Blue Jeans Millionaire welcomes Christine as our newest contributor. She is Richard’s niece with some financial savvy of her own. Christine hopes to occasionally contribute a younger, female viewpoint to the blog.

Today would have been Heath Ledger’s twenty-ninth birthday. Instead of a celebration with friends and loved ones, there’s grief over his untimely death, salacious rumors about a love-child, the revelation that he did not update his will after his daughter’s birth, and a rather public tug-of-war over the will’s contents.

I hope, though, that at least in the background of all this publicity, people of all ages and generations are reminded to create or update their wills.

I’m a childless Gen X’er, and I know most of my peers haven’t given much time or thought to writing a will. Most of us are too busy paying off student and credit card debt, saving up for a house payment, and yes…there is a little bit of an invincibility complex too.

Even so, you likely have enough property (That credit card debt had to go towards buying something worthwhile, right?) to warrant making out a will. Without one, in the event of your death, the law will determine how your estate will be distributed. And knowing the way governments and the courts work, wouldn’t you rather make those decisions than leave them in the hands of the state?

When it comes to drafting a will, you probably already know that you should contact a lawyer who specializes in estates. But if calling a lawyer is just another excuse for you to put off creating a will, here are some bare necessities that you should take care of in the meantime - just to make sure you’re covered.

The Absolute Bare Minimum

1. Make sure you have designated beneficiaries on all of your financial accounts. When you apply for any type of a financial account - banking, checking, brokerage, IRA - there is most often a section for you to designate a beneficiary for the account. At the very least, do list a person to whom you would like the assets to go to in the case of your death, and don’t forget to keep it updated.
2. Consider writing a holographic will. Did you know that in many states a holographic (hand-written) will is legally valid? While I don’t in any way recommend that you rely on this method, it is a way for you to make your last wishes known. You must make sure that the will is as specific and unambiguous as possible. Write it in pen, on a clean sheet of paper, without any mistakes - and don’t use white-out either. It needs to be in your handwriting, yet still legible. And obviously, you should make sure to check that your state’s probate courts will even accept a holographic will as not all states do.
3. Go Nolo. If you’re going to take the time and effort to handwrite a will, you might as well take a little bit of extra effort to make it more formal for the sake of your heirs. Nolo provides inexpensive guides and software packages for you to create a simple will. And with software, you can easily make updates to the will any time you need to.
4. Don’t forget a living will. And for some extra credit, make sure you have a living will or advanced directive on top of it all. These documents specify your wishes regarding your medical care should you be incapacitated and no longer able to make these types of decisions. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization provides free advance directives and instructions for each state.

But Really, Call A Lawyer

I’m a die-hard-do-it-yourselfer, but estate planning is one case where having good legal advice is worth the expense. Especially if you’ve recently married, divorced, had a child, or obtained a high-value asset, you’ll want to make sure that your heirs are adequately protected and provided for.

It’s hard enough mourning the death of a loved one without having to deal with all the complexities of distributing their assets and belongings. Do them all a loving favor, and make your wishes known.

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Posted: 04|4|08 at 6:21 am. Filed under: estate planning.
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