What a great question to ask! The fact that you are asking shows you already understand why you need a will.
However, simply having a will isn’t enough. It’s a good first step, but for a will to work for you, it must be regularly updated. Only a current will can continue to ensure your wishes regarding the legal care of your minor children and distribution of your property and assets are kept.
If you made your will with Mama Bear Legal Forms, you can edit it for free within six months of creating it, or for just $29 per will after six month.
Let’s cover why and when you should update your will.
Why should you update your will?
Life changes. Your will should change with it. If you’re like many people, you may have created a will when your children were young. Fifteen years later, they’re off to college and your will is still back in kindergarten.
Think of your will like a house. If you bought a home twenty years ago and haven’t remodeled anything during that time, you may have a few projects you want to get going (like a new kitchen or master bathroom).
The people you designated to care for your children in your will when you first made it may no longer be in a position to be legal guardians. Or, your children may now be adults.
You may have new assets or family heirlooms and want to designate who should get them.
How often should you update your will?
Any time you experience a major life event, you should update your will to reflect that change. Common reasons to update a will include:
- When a child is born
- Getting married
- Moving to a new state
- Finding a new charity you want to leave a gift to in your will
- Your wishes change
- People reach designated ages within your plan
- Changing jobs
- Getting divorced
You don’t have to update your will every year. However, you should ask yourself if any of the above changes have happened to you. If the answer is yes, then it’s time to pull out your will and see if there is anything you need to update.
Is it expensive to update a will?
Many people think changing a will requires visiting a lawyer. Because lawyer fees can be expensive, people delay updating their will.
Thankfully, you don’t have to go to a lawyer to update your will. You can update it through Mama Bear Legal Forms for just $29.
For example, in the past getting divorced used to require an expensive new estate plan. With Mama Bear, you can update your will for a very reasonable fee and put your money towards other costs associated with the divorce. Moving on after a divorce is hard enough; updating after one shouldn’t make it harder.
Remember why you need a will
Remembering why you need a will helps you keep it current.
A will lets you keep your assets out of the hands of those who you don’t want to have them, and puts them into the hands of those who you do. Do you have new people you’d like to leave assets to?
A will enables you to name an executor, someone you trust, who has the authority to ensure your wishes in your will are carried out. Has your executor changed? If so, does your will reflect that reality?
If you have minor children, a will lets you designate a legal guardian for them. Can those individuals still provide legal guardianship? Have they moved? Do you need to designate someone else?
A will can also help you give charitable donations to organizations you care about, which may also help you offset any estate taxes. Is there a new charity you’d like to designate to receive a gift in your will?
If you own a business, a will ensures a smooth transition to the new owner(s). Have you named a new owner? Has that person changed?
All of these are clear and compelling reasons to make, and keep, your will current.
There is a real need to keep your will updated. What keeps people from doing so is the same thing that keeps people from creating a will in the first place – time, hassle and money.
Thankfully, updating a will with Mama Bear Legal Forms is as easy as creating one. You just plug in your information and we do the rest for you. In fact, you can take care of it over lunch.
Get Your Will Package Today
Updating your will doesn’t take long or cost much. You can do it in less than 20 minutes from anywhere whenever you’d like for only $29 if you made your first will with Mama Bear Legal Forms.
If you haven’t yet made your will, do it with Mama Bear! We provides law firm quality, state-specific documents that are easy to create, simple to download and incredibly affordable.
All three of the forms we offer in our Will Package are legally valid in all states and include guidance on how to complete them.
It only takes twenty minutes to create or update your will. Get started now.
