Hiring a wills attorney gives you access to their years of experience and knowledge. During your consultation, the attorney will advise you on the best strategy to attain your objectives, especially if you have difficult family dynamics. They also possess the technical expertise required to ensure that the proper paperwork is completed.
Meeting with a wills attorney is also necessary because they serve as an impartial third party. If your will is challenged and trust litigation ensues, the drafting attorney will be deposed, and a well-documented file will help ensure that your wishes are carried out.
Contrary to popular belief, creating a will can be a relatively inexpensive way to leave your assets to specific beneficiaries. While attorney rates vary depending on their experience, location, and family needs, this is feasible for writing a legally sound will. This is not the place to cut corners, and a sloppy will can actually be worse than having no will at all.
Life takes its toll and circumstances shift. Whether you’re getting divorced, married, or expecting a child, these are all good reasons to evaluate and possibly revise your will. We even propose that you review your will regularly to avoid unintentionally causing complications for your heirs after your death. Working with a living wills attorney helps ensure that the appropriate terms and language are used for your specific scenario.
While there are numerous online tools for making a will, you should familiarize yourself with all components before beginning the online procedure. A professional wills attorney can ask a few crucial questions and help you prepare a will and any other legal documents you need on time. You won’t necessarily know what other paperwork you’ll need on your own, or how to best draft it to avoid probate dispute. These same problems occur using online websites that allow you to construct your own will.
A will is frequently written in a hurry and without much care. If you draft a will on your own, you risk overlooking provincial statutes that must be followed for the will to be valid. Remember that, despite their seeming simplicity, boilerplate language is important, valuable and dependent on your specific circumstances. You could also make a mistake and appoint the wrong executor, leave assets out, or neglect to name a guardian for your children. A skilled wills attorney is familiar with all of the nuances and will guarantee that nothing is neglected.
Holographic (i.e. handwritten) wills have very particular legal requirements different from wills created by attorneys. To locate the applicable statute, you’d have to read the code completely, and you might not be able to do so correctly. Remember that attorneys spend three years in law school and then sit for a three-month bar exam of which only the top 50% pass.
People also don’t realize the ramifications of simply striking out a line or making a donation in their will. These often fail to achieve the desired outcome and undoubtedly result in a lengthy and complicated legal process. When it comes to wills, an attorney is an ideal person to consult.
The dynamics of a family can be complicated. A wills attorney, particularly one with probate litigation experience, knows how to properly construct your will so that your assets are given to the right heirs while minimizing the chance of a contested will to the greatest extent possible. Unfortunately, a will contest is often unavoidable, but there are ways to mitigate the risk. Rather than merely naming beneficiaries to receive your property, a wills attorney can assist you in establishing a more complicated plan such as a trust, which allows you to leave assets to one person for their benefit until death, with the final distribution to your children. This can be useful for ensuring that your elderly parents or disabled siblings, in addition to your children, are protected.
For more information on finding the right wills lawyer in Ottawa for you, visit mcguintylaw.com or call us today at (613) 526-3858.