Northern California Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: Who has a last will and testament?
We don't have one yet. But when we do, we'll go through a lawyer.
If you do it on your own, be sure to follow the instructions very carefully. My dad wrote his own will (using some sort of form or software). But then he had my brother and my brother's then-fiance/baby mama (now wife) sign as witnesses. You have to have people who are "non-interested parties" sign as witnesses (e.g. people who would have zero potential legal claim to your estate), or it makes the entire thing invalid. That's what happened with my dad's will. The whole thing was deemed void. That meant his wishes (that everything go to my one brother) had to be ignored (making everything a 50/50 split between my two brothers -- I wasn't legally entitled because he was my step dad and my parents were divorced). And had his estate not been bankrupt (meaning he had more debt than assets), we would have been forced to go through probate -- which would have cost us a lot of time, effort and money.
And that brings me to the other reason we'll use a lawyer. While I consider myself pretty savvy at researching things and figuring out the fine print, I never want to put my loved ones through what I had to deal with after my dad's passing (since the responsibility got dumped on me by my family) because there was nothing valid and legal in place. So, I'd definitely opt to pay an estate attorney for an hour or two of their time to review everything and make sure everything is done correctly.
Just FYI: since you and your DH signed you cannot be beneficiaries of her will. The witnessess must be an uninterested party - someone who is not a beneficiary to the will.
Yep. See my post above! And neither can be the executor of the estate either.
Like pp's, we have a Trust. We started it when I was pregnant got all finished up just after he was born. With a baby it is an absolute must and with property it is a smart decision. Find an attorney that specializes in Trusts and Estate Planning and go for it.
We don't, but we plan on doing it when we have kids. My understanding if that one of us passes, everything goes to the other. I'm not sure what happens if both of us pass, though?
For our investments, we have beneficiaries, but I'm not sure what happens to our house...