Had this all typed out once, but it was coming across kinda morbid.
Basically, when does a will become a prudent thing to have and what should it cover? I have no property, but some guns and some tools. Bank accounts are set up to pay on death. I am single, no kids, renter.

Well, its good to designate who will get any assets you may have upon your demise. You don't want it going to the state to piss away on illegals, food stamps, section 8 housing and all the other free give aways?

Well, if you want someone to inherit your guns, that is at least one reason to have a will. I am sure one of the attorney members will chime in.

I def want my stuff to go where I want it to go. Especially my guns and collectibles. I really want my best friend to have all of my fishing gear and most of my guns and ammo. So that is in my will. I do NOT want the government dictating where my stuff will end up.

In most states, if you have no will, your property, net of administrative costs, will be divided according to the statute of that state. An administrator will be named by the court to handle the job and report at various points.

Intestate succession is dependent on your surviving relatives, wife, children, parents, siblings so forth. A wife gets so much, children split so much, if none of those, parents, or siblings, etc. Each state has its own details.

If you have a valid will, the person you name will be appointed Executor, usually, to carry out whatever division of your property you specify. “Wife gets it all”, or “wife gets so much, kids get the rest”, or “all my property goes to the Loyal Order of Boiled Owls,” etc. Just about any scheme you want will do. You need to understand about what is community property, or property held in joint tenancy and things like that which do not go into your estate.

Usually, there are special statutes which provide for accounts with small amounts to be transferred without probate. Real property in the estate must go through probate in every case I recall. Joint tenancy avoids probate, and trusts as well.

Only if you have no will and no relatives would the state get your property.

I had one when I was 22. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it has to be done.

What JAllen said.

I’d add that having had a son that died without a will at 40, more than anything he left behind a mess of issues that needed to be sorted out by people who didn’t need to be dealing with that brand of complication. He was divorced and left behind 3 children. He managed to have enough credit to get a loan for a house with a woman he was not married to. His estate was primarily debt. The woman claimed common law marriage to the court and probated his estate in order to get his name off the deed/loan of the house. Way more issues than I’ll go into here. In short, those who are left behind should not have to spend money or jump through hoops to clean up whatever life you might leave. Wills are not that expensive. Decide what you want done and have it documented.

It's worth it. Name your executor, waive the need for a bond, designate who gets what.

The very least that should be expected of us is, in my opinion, that we not leave the world more messed up than when we lived in it.
My wife and I are trying hard to make sure our kids will have less complicated affairs to deal with when we passed than our parents left to us.

I've had one since I was 40. Simple, wife gets everything kind of will. But she knows that my guns and knives get split between the grandsons. Anything else, she decides who gets what.

I'll get REAL basic. Have your will stored someplace people can access it. I'm currently hunting an attorney who retired 10 years ago and closed shop. He has the will. Personally, at my age, I'm slimming down my property and putting the cash in investments jointly owned. I don't want my survivor (likely wife) dealing with a couple of hundred guns she knows little about.

Some states have will forms for simple situations. Whackyland has this: http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Porta...ations/Will-Form.pdf

The complexities arise when property is owned in various ways as I described above. You can’t leave your interest in your house to your daughter when you own in as joint tenants with your wife, for example.

You might also set up a durable power of attorney for the time when you are so ill you can’t act on your own behalf, and rescusitate instructions yes or no.

My brother just passed away, intestate and insolvent, what a mess. I will spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars settling his estate. I might get my money back and maybe I won't but I will never recover the time and emotional stress. Make a will, name an executor, plan and prepay your burial and funeral, and tell them exactly what you want. If not its totally in the hands of a probate judge.

In regards to firearms, would't a gun trust be helpful in this situation?

Having a will is better than not having a will.

I have a pre-paid legal service (I pay a monthly fee) and one of the services (the primary reason I subscribed) is will creation. Fill out a form and the result, once notarized, is a legally binding will.

Who gets the guns is always a fun subject. Both here and after we croak. The situations I've seen aren't generally pretty, with the main beneficiary being the gun store that offers pennies on the dollar. Lots of details and few really know what will happen.

I've spent years now trying to educate my wife as to what I want done. She's spent the same years telling me she'll do as she pleases. More recently Ive given up. I just dumped (a kind term) a dozen of the best K22s I've ever seen on David Carroll to auction on gunbroker.com. It will remove one minor worry from my messy ownings.

My wife's idea was to just let my kids pick and choose. My guess is they'll cherry pick the collection, seriously depleting the value without even knowing what they've done. Then not value the items they have. In some situations guns need to go together. The problem I'm facing is wanting some guns to go to certain people. Its tempting to do as I've just done, sell them. Other guns its tempting to just give them away whilst I'm still here and complaining. Another complication is sons living in other states.

When my own father died, both my brother and I lived in a different state from him. We did the usual, ignore stupid laws. I was only interested in 2 of his guns and through deception and trickery managed to score them both. I just let my brother take the lions share of maybe a dozen and the greater value. Its not always about value, its about memories, too. I know I'm a scoundrel and I don't even still have them. Its too much responsibility for me. I moved them on to my sons. Probably I should do the same with mine.

I'm starting to get the idea I should divide my collection into two groups. User guns and collectors pieces. Selling off the best ones makes sense to maximize the take for my ungrateful spouse, and leaves my favorite shooting guns to let her feel she's doing what she wants.

Just as burdensome will be the gun "accessories", meaning ammo, reloading supplies and other assorted crap like my H H Heiser collection. I've got to figure that out still. It might be a little easier because one son is a reloader and the other just burns powder.

Most of us also collect other things, too. Those need to be sorted out, just not here with gun guys.

I've also seen that people who are the most orderly about their estates often don't need to be for a long time. The people who don't give it a thought seem to be the ones with the biggest messes. One sentiment seems to be "just let the kids fight it out". Never fear, they'll do that, often with a bunch of hard feelings. I'm not sure why (I suspect greed) many feel they should be entitled to everything, or at least the lions share.

Someone said you don't really know a person until you've shared an estate with them.

The requirements and issues vary by state and you don't show a location but you said this was a very simple situation.
Based on that, I would get a copy of something like Willmaker software, select the state and fill it out as best you can. They give pretty good instructions and explanations as you go. Tell the person you have selected to be executor where it is located and discuss your desires about anything that may not be in a will.
Have it notarized and keep the copy accessible to the executor, not locked up.
Another point you haven't mentioned and maybe even more important is a living will and healthcare power of attorney if you become unable to make decisions for yourself. These forms and information should also be in Willmaker. Simple fill out the blanks versions are probably available online but I'd spring for the software myself.

Listen to JALLEN. Good advice. It is never to early to have one, unless you can predict the future. Many attorneys will also do living wills and durable health care powers of attorney as part of the process.

NOTE: In some states, layers offer free clinics each year for first responders, military, etc. on a Saturday to do all of this (my firm participates in these). Not sure if you are in that category, but worth Googling free wills for first responders or military around your area.

^ Glad that service is available, but I do not qualify. I just work in a factory.

I guess I have some decisions to make and some paperwork to do. Thank you all for the information.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
In most states, if you have no will, your property, net of administrative costs, will be divided according to the statute of that state. An administrator will be named by the court to handle the job and report at various points.

What I always tell people is that everyone has a will. If you don't have your own, the State writes one for you.

If you need more extensive advice, I recommend going to nolo.com and see what they have.