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The Importance of a Last Will and Testament in Parenthood
If you are a parent than you need a Last Will and Testament. If you die who will take care of your children and protect them until they are an adult? Without a Will your children will become responsibility of the State of California who will decide who will take care of your children.
Without a will, California law takes over and provides for choosing your executor, dividing you assets and selecting a guardian for your children.
It is not enough to have talked it over with your family. A written will is the way to protect your family.
Do you care what is done with your remains? Are the persons who are going to arrange your funeral going to do what you wanted? What if their beliefs are different than yours? Although they may say they will do what you want they may not be willing to do so. Always put it in writing.
A plan of memorial should be written out and kept with your will. This plan of ememorial should give any instructions you feel are iomportant as to how you want your remains disposed of. The plan should also lay out any instructions as to prepurchased funeral arrangements or cemetary plots. Further if you have arranged for science to be allowed to use your remains, the contact persons should be indicated in this document. Also, many people are unaware that the body is returned to the family once science has completed their research. You should leave instructions for your family as to what shoudl be done when your remains are returened.
What about privacy? Did you know that a will is a public document once you die? That can be avoided by having a living trust with a pour over will. What this means is that all your assets are put in trust for you, with the traditional who get what written into the trust. You will is written such that any extra assets go to the trust. This way when you die all your assets end up in the trust, and then the assets are distributed based on what the trust says. Because the trust is not a public documewnt the way the will is, the world won't be able to find out how you gave away your money in the end.
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