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Alsadius comments on Open thread, July 21-27, 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: polymathwannabe 21 July 2014 01:15PM

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Comment author: Alsadius 24 July 2014 11:01:19PM *  2 points [-]

1) Your local jurisdiction will have some manner of default will - a piece of legislation somewhere that says who gets what in the event that you die intestate. Look up a summary online. If its provisions bug you, you should probably get a will. If you're cool with it, then you don't necessarily need one. However, if you have an estate big enough that your relatives will sue each other for a piece of it(>$100k USD net worth, say), an estate that is somehow complex(trust funds, assets you want to go somewhere in particular, scumbag relatives you want to cut out, etc.), or children, I would advise getting one regardless. I know some estate lawyers, and the stories they tell are hair-curling. I know that's a biased source, because they don't see much of the simple cases, but it's an insurance policy I plan to get as soon as I have enough assets to be worth paying for it.

Also, when you're getting one, get a power of attorney set up. Most people don't do that even when they do get a will done, and it's a pretty ugly oversight if something goes wrong.

Comment author: sixes_and_sevens 25 July 2014 10:05:03AM 1 point [-]

This comment was helpful. I still don't think I need a will right now (too few relatives and assets), but I've adjusted down my estimate of when I might.