Do you Have a Will?

It’s far easier to get your will in order than it will be for your family to figure out your wishes after your gone without a will. Photo by Jim Park

” width=”296″ height=”395″>

I hope this doesn’t come across like an admonishment from a reformed smoker, but I just lost my father, and I’m happy to say he died with a will. That will make the next few months much easier on me and my sister. Dad had it all in place, right down to phone numbers, and email addresses for those that held his important papers. Unfortunately, statistics suggest that anywhere from one-half to two-thirds of Americans do not have a will or even any written instructions or last wishes to guide their next of kin.

Dad was in his mid-eighties and had terminal brain cancer, so he knew the end was inevitable. However, he put his affairs in order when he was in his thirties. That’s just the kind of man he was. He didn’t want my mother to have to deal with the problems associated with his passing while keeping the mortgage paid and food on the table. My grandfather, too, was pretty well organized in this regard. It took me a while longer to get my affairs in order. It was not until my daughter was nine that my wife finally convinced me to visit the lawyer and have something drawn up.

A story in USA Today from June 2015, notes that according to a 2015 Rocket Lawyer estate-planning survey by Harris Poll, 64% of Americans don’t have a will. Of those without a plan, about 27% said there isn’t an urgent need for them to make one — and 15% said they don’t need one at all.

A poll conducted by Gallup in May of 2016, just …Read the rest of this story

Source:: http://www.truckinginfo.com/blog/on-the-road/story/2017/02/do-you-have-a-will.aspx