online will- any good?

[Garvin]

steveo3002 said:

i dont have much of family to contest anything but okay on the letter

as for that person dying a day before me well whats the usual thing there then

if i die i wish to leave my stuff to xyz , if shes not around then the dogs home?

and yeah id remember to change it lol

A will normally states that the estate goes to xyx providing they survive you for a period of time, say 30 days. If not it goes to abc. This covers the eventuality that xyz dies before you or that you and xyz die as a result of the same incident - car crash, house fire, dodgy meal in a pub etc. The time delay is just in case xyz hangs around a bit longer than you before croaking and makes executing the Will more straightforward.

You also need to nominate who the Executor(s) of the Will is/are - this can also be xyz, anyone else you trust or your solicitor. Again, you need to make provision if your primary Executor isn't around to do it at the time or decides they don't want to do it when the time comes - you appoint abc as Executor and if they cannot do it for any reason then you appoint def.

[biggyB]

If you die intestate, your estate goes through the probate process, where lawyers and solicitors can milk off from 10 to 20% of the total. Sometimes MUCH more.
If you make a will, when you die your estate STILL goes through probate, where the scummy lawyers still get to claw out as much as they can from your pie, if your relatives use one of course.
If one of your relatives does all the paperwork and goes through the process then obviously the lawyers don't get a cut.

The way around all of this crap is to create a Living Trust. Very easy to do and can be done without lawyers via a notary.
There is no probate process at all for an estate that is within a Living Trust. The assets in the trust are handed over immediately by the trustee according to the trust indenture which is the law of the trust, written by you when you set it up. Totally bypasses the probate process and the scummy lawyers who should be avoided is at all possible.

Full disclosure: I hate lawyers. I personally went through the probate process for 2 family members that passed away, one with a will and one intestate. The one with the will was more dragged out and difficult than the one that didn't leave a will.

Its all a scam in my opinion to milk peoples assets when they die. Get around it completely with a Living Trust. Books available on the subject everywhere.

Woe to you lawyers!