Estate Planning

Finding a Lawyer

If, while working on your WillMaker documents, you decide that you would like help from a lawyer, you will next need to search for an attorney that meets your needs. Finding a competent lawyer who charges a reasonable fee and respects your efforts to prepare your own estate planning documents may not

Planning Your Estate with WillMaker

Estate planning is the process of arranging for what will happen to your property when you die. (Whatever you own at your death is called your estate.) It can also include: making arrangements for the care of your young children in the event of your death planning for your own care and the care of your

Avoiding Probate

You may have heard or read that you ought to avoid probate—and that if you don’t take steps to do so, your survivors will surely waste a lot of time and money after your death. This section will help you understand what probate is and why you may want to steer your estate away from it. What Is Probate?

Living Trusts to Avoid Probate

If you’ve heard something about living trusts but wonder exactly what they are and how they work, this section will give you a quick lesson. First of all, what’s a trust? It’s an arrangement under which one person, called the trustee, owns property on behalf of someone else, called the beneficiary.

Reducing Estate Taxes

Estate taxes are imposed after your death, on property you leave at your death. Because everyone is entitled to a very large estate tax exemption, only a small number of estates end up owing it. The Federal Estate Tax The vast majority of Americans do not need to worry about federal estate tax, because

Trusts to Control Property

Most people are content to leave their property to their survivors outright, without trying to control what they do with it. However, in some situations, it can make sense to impose controls on what people can do with property you leave them. We discuss the most common situations here. Children and Young

When You Need More Than a Will

If you have little to leave your survivors you probably don’t need to do any planning beyond making a basic will, powers of attorney, and health care directives (all of which you can make with WillMaker). On the other hand, you may want to take another look at your situation and possibly do some additional

Your Legal Companion for Estate Planning

If you’re like a lot of people, you have a nagging feeling that you need to make a will—but you haven’t gotten around to it because it sounds hard or expensive or just unpleasant. (Or maybe you picked up this software because you are the rare individual who loves to plan and get organized. We encourage

Getting Help From a Lawyer

You probably won’t need a lawyer’s help to make documents with WillMaker. But the process of working on your estate plan might raise some questions about your particular situation that should be answered by an expert. This is especially likely if you have a very large estate, must plan for an incapacitated

Giving To a Person With Special Needs

Question Can I use the WillMaker will to provide for a love one with special needs? Answer Do not use the WillMaker will to leave money or property directly to a person with special needs. The management provided under WillMaker does not sufficiently provide for special needs, and it does not protect

Learning More About Estate Planning

If you have questions that WillMaker does not address, you may want to consult some self-help books or websites before you consult a pricey expert. It’s often worth the money to pay a good lawyer for advice about your specific situation; it’s rarely worth it to pay by the hour for education. Reading