DIY Estate Plans: Shortcuts That Shortchange
Can you write your own Will? Sure, Arizona law (like laws in many other states) allows you to write your wishes in your own handwriting and sign it. Such a DIY estate plan could be perfectly valid. You also can find all kinds of forms online not only for estate plans but for other legal […]
Aretha Franklin’s Wills, Petty Discord & Emma the Dog
Sometimes, you can develop a fondness for tasks that used to seem like a chore. That’s me and the brief. Having spent more than a decade in newspaper journalism, I compiled plenty of news briefs, collections of news of the day each item boiled down to a paragraph or two. These days, news bits are […]
Will Deletion Attempt Was Ineffective
We see it all the time. We ask our clients not to write on their wills or trusts. This weekly newsletter regularly reports stories about how it does not work. Nonetheless, people keep trying to make a will deletion or modification by scribbling on the will itself. Please remember, folks: when the issue becomes important, […]
Arizona Adopts Electronic Will Law Effective Next Year
Perhaps you are waiting to sign your will. You might be thinking that you should be able to sign an electronic will. Maybe you want to hold off until then. Well, you will only have another year to wait. What is an electronic will? So what is the big deal, anyway? Can’t you sign your […]
Please Don’t Handwrite Changes On Your Will
Arizona law allows you to sign a “holographic” will (or a holographic codicil). That means you can handwrite your own will and sign it. Such a will or codicil does not need the two witnesses usually required. So that means you can easily write — or change — your will yourself. Right? Please do not […]
The Difference Between an Heir and a Beneficiary
APRIL 18, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 15 Your estate is simple, your family relationships clear, your intentions easy to understand. Why can’t you just write your own will, and save the legal fees? Because of Esther Hill, that’s why. Actually, that’s not her real name — we change the names of most of the people […]
Woman’s Holographic Will Effective Despite State Law
JANUARY 18, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 3 It might seem odd that interstate problems in probate proceedings arise. After all, we have had 50 states and a handful of other jurisdictions gathered together in the United States for a half-century, and nearly that many for most of the two centuries before that. Shouldn’t differences in […]
Do-It-Yourself Will May Not Save Costs After All
APRIL 7, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 13 From time to time we devote our weekly newsletter to a story about estate planning gone wrong — often (but not always) because of an individual’s decision to forego the help of a lawyer in drafting a will or trust. Lawyers also make mistakes, of course, but they […]
The iWill — Might It Be the Future of Probate and Estate Planning?
FEBRUARY 24, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 8 News reached us this month of a November, 2013, probate court order in Australia admitting an unusual will to probate, and it made us wonder if we should anticipate a digital future for estate planning. An Australian probate decision would have to be pretty unusual to get noticed […]
Can You Change Your Will By Writing On It?
NOVEMBER 18, 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 44 So you have a will, and you want to make some changes. Can you just write in the new provisions? How about if you sign somewhere on the document?Can it be a copy of your will, or does it have to be on the original to be effective? […]