Adrian and Susan have two young children and parents in their seventies. They each wrote a will right after they got married, but did not update them when the kids were born or after they bought a house in Vermont. They are in good health and have simply been too busy to pay attention to their estate. How urgent is writing or updating a will?

This section covers the basics of estate planning, including the value of writing a will and the logistics of getting started to plan an estate.

1. Why should I go to the trouble of planning my estate and writing a will?
2. Isn't a will all I need?
3. How can an estate plan make things easier on my family after I die?
4. How can we ensure that the guardians we've named for our children have the resources to raise them well?
5. Can an estate plan help reduce taxes on my estate?
6. Isn't an estate plan just for old people?
7. When should I plan my estate?
8. My spouse doesn't like to talk about finances or estate planning. What should I do?
9. What can I do to minimize the costs of estate planning?

Subsections

1. Working with a Lawyer