In conclusion, there are loads of reasons to create a will if you live in Louisiana.  Even if only one of the seven answers we discussed applies to your situation, you probably still want to consider doing a will. 
 
Why come to Condon, Wood & Burkhart as the firm to help you and get your affairs put in order?  Well, we offer free access to the will worksheet to help guide you through all the issues as well as a free consultation with an attorney who practices in this area, either Garrett Condon or Diane Burkhart.  Both have actively drafted wills over the course of their entire legal careers.  As a former active duty JAG, Garrett has drafted over 1,000 wills for clients in the military and retired, as well as their families.  We have decades of experience. 
 
You can, of course, pull form sheets off the internet and attempt to do a will by yourself.  However, you should keep in mind that there are technical form rules in Louisiana and if you do not meet the minimum form requirements, the document you create may be invalid.  Further, unless you have legal training, it will be difficult for you to set up the more complicated parts of the will like creating a usufruct or a trust.  Creating a will that complies with the form requirements, addresses all the issues relevant to your situation, and properly states what needs to be stated will be best accomplished by a legal professional.  Further, we have helped countless people just like you think through their situations and create a will that best suited their needs – we can similarly help you and your family. 
 
Keep in mind also that, in addition to the benefits of having a will, there are other issues you should be considering to prepare for a potential serious illness or injury.  Legal documents such as a living will, medical power of attorney, and general power of attorney, may also be critically important for you to have on hand just in case.  Our firm will discuss those documents during our consultation with you, and we will be publishing those topics in the near future. 

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All these decisions have to be made in the living years.   
 
As famously sang, it’s too late when we die to admit we don’t see eye to eye.  Well, it’s also too late when we die, or even when we become incapacitated, to write our will. 
 
Oftentimes procrastination leads to a permanent lost chance.  Sure, people who get diagnosed with a terminal medical condition have the warning and the time to complete a will and get their affairs in order.  But, things unfortunately often do occur very suddenly.  If you think about your life experiences, this probably accounts for most deaths you know of for people under the age of 80.  You probably have heard and said “it was so sudden” or “you’re never really expecting it” a whole lot more than “we saw that coming” or “this really wasn’t a surprise.”  For everyone below the age of 45, the leading cause of death is by accident (often a car accident).  For those 65 and older, heart disease is the leading cause, which includes heart attacks and strokes. 
 
The point here is that if you wait to do your will until the time when you really need it, you are probably too late.  You need to have a will in place before the sudden accident or heart attack occurs.  So when is the best time to complete a will?  If you live in Louisiana and if you are married and/or have children, you should consider doing a will right now no matter what your age.  If your situation or your preference change down the line, you can always replace your will with a new one.    
 
Our firm can provide you with a worksheet to help guide you through the major choices and provide an initial consultation for free.  Completing the worksheet is relatively simple, but there may be some areas requiring thought, discussion and deliberations, such as who you would want to be the guardian of your minor children.  The will worksheet is designed to assist you in thinking through some of those issues, but you only complete as much as you feel comfortable doing on your own – our attorneys will discuss every topic at length during the initial consult.  We take care of all the details – you just need to know what you generally want in your will.

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* The content of this page is for informational purposes only.  It does not serve as legal advice and should not be taken as such.  There is nothing published on this website that is intended to create an attorney-client relationship.  If you have a legal issue, you should consult with a licensed attorney directly.

Do you want to make sure you minimize potential taxes owed so that your heirs take as much as possible?
 
For most people, estate taxes are not an issue.  Your estate in 2016 would have to be worth more than $5,450,000 for this to come into play.  If you are far below this amount, you probably do not have to worry about it.  But for questions and for legal advice on this issue, you should visit with an attorney.
 
If your estate (including your real estate value and your life insurance) may even come close to this amount, you definitely should speak to an attorney to at least make a basic estate plan.  There are a number of things an attorney can do to help ensure any potential estate taxes are minimized.

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* The content of this page is for informational purposes only.  It does not serve as legal advice and should not be taken as such.  There is nothing published on this website that is intended to create an attorney-client relationship.  If you have a legal issue, you should consult with a licensed attorney directly.

Do you want to leave anything to a non-family member, like a caregiver or a charity?
 
Without a will, as we said in Answer 1, your property goes to a specific family member or members.  Everything goes to your children if you have children.  If you do not have children, then it goes to the next of kin as designated by law.  There are no options for anyone to deviate from those rules. 
 
As stated previously, your will can be used to itemize gifts to your children to avoid fighting.  You can designate that one gets your wedding ring and the other gets the silverware.  You can also generally leave disproportionate gifts to your children – like 70 percent of your estate to one and 30 percent to the other.  That may be a rare case, but sometimes children are in different positions either because of relative wealth, age or even how close they are with a parent. 
 
Beyond this, however, is the fact that in your will you can also generally bequest property to anyone.  Even if you have children, you may want to leave a certain piece of jewelry to your sister or a set of golf clubs to your nephew.  You may want to leave some money to a charity or leave some real estate to your church.  You cannot do these things without a will.

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* The content of this page is for informational purposes only.  It does not serve as legal advice and should not be taken as such.  There is nothing published on this website that is intended to create an attorney-client relationship.  If you have a legal issue, you should consult with a licensed attorney directly.

Do you want to try to avert your estate falling into chaos?
 
We all like to believe that after we die, the process of divvying up our property will resemble a calm, polite and orderly board meeting as opposed to looting a liquor store.  Total chaos and everyone grabbing whatever they can find in the house is probably quite far from the norm.  But this can and does play out, often to a lesser degree.  And when there are not instances of bad faith – family members trying to take advantage of the situation – there can still be very awkward situations and conflicts of interest that pop up that can cause strains on family members.  Who gets the family silverware?  Who gets the antique table?  Who gets the wedding ring?  A will can minimize these issues.
 
With a will, you will appoint someone to be the executor of your estate.  That means that the person you designate will be empowered by the will and the court to take charge of everything and turn the right property over to the right heirs.  Putting someone you trust clearly in charge will go a long way to keeping the process orderly and fair. 
 
Further, in your will you can itemize personal property and direct who will inherit what.  You can say that your daughter gets the silverware and your son gets your wedding ring and your niece gets the antique table.  Sure, by designating who gets what, there is still the chance at jealousy and disappointment.  But, your designation means you gave thought to who should get what, and there should be nothing to fight about. This again helps ensure that there is order and fairness to the process. 
 
Does a will guarantee that no one will fight or steal or cheat or be upset?  Of course not.  People are people.  But by doing a will where you appoint a specific person as executor and you itemize your gifts will go a long way to minimizing conflict.  When you minimize conflict, you minimize the chances of relationships being damaged, people being cheated, and legal expenses being incurred. 
 
Coming in to an attorney’s office can also help enormously with getting things prepared for your executor.  If you (and, if married, your spouse) died tomorrow, would your next of kin know what bank you use?  What insurance you have?  When your mortgage payments are due?  Whether you have a safety deposit box or not?  Someone trying to figure all this out on their own is faced with a monumental and frustrating task.  At our office, for example, we give our clients a personal affairs organizer – it is one booklet kept with your will that summarizes all the things your executor would need.  They will only need to go to one place to get everything.  This might literally save your executor months of work and frustration.

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* The content of this page is for informational purposes only.  It does not serve as legal advice and should not be taken as such.  There is nothing published on this website that is intended to create an attorney-client relationship.  If you have a legal issue, you should consult with a licensed attorney directly.

Don’t you want to protect the money you leave to your young children?
 
When you were 18 years old, did you know everything you needed to know about how to manage your financial affairs?  Well, Louisiana law presumes exactly that!   If you die without a will and your child inherits your estate, he or she gets full access and control over everything at 18.  Sound like a good idea?
 
In your will, you can raise that age to any age you choose.  In the will, your attorney can create a basic trust that protects your child’s inheritance by placing it under the control of someone else – a trustee.  The trustee doesn’t own the inheritance.  He or she can’t use it to buy a summer house or go on vacation.  Rather, the trustee manages the money in prudent investments and is authorized to use the money for the benefit of your child.  Maybe you want a bank to be the trustee and are willing to pay for this service.  More likely, you may have an Uncle Bob who is an accountant that could be suited for the job.  Or maybe your sister is just good with money.  Family members can serve as trustees and often do it for free. 
 
Your trustee can manage the inheritance properly and ensure your child doesn’t blow it on cars, vacations and video games.  The trustee can, however, buy a car or a video game if the trustee believes it is the right thing to do.  The trustee can (or in some cases must) pay an allowance to the child.  And the trustee certainly can use the money in the trust for things like college expenses and clothes.  Depending on how you feel about the subject, especially considering the relative maturity of your child, you get to write into the trust at what age the trust will close and thus at what age your child can take over complete control.  With a Louisiana will, you have the ability to appoint a more seasoned adult to manage the investments until the child reaches, for example, the age of 25.  Doesn’t this sound like a better idea?  Perhaps not to your child.  But who knows your child better than you?
 
In addition to extending the period of mandatory management of a child’s inheritance from 18 to whatever older age you prefer, your will can also create a check and balance system over the guardian of your minor children.  This is not always or even usually necessary, and may not be the right choice for you.  But depending on your situation, it might be a big deal.  If you recall, the court will appoint a guardian if your minor children are orphaned.  That person takes personal care of the children – houses them, feeds them, makes medical decisions for them, and ensures they go to school.  In your will, you may also make that same person the trustee of the children’s inheritance, meaning that guardian calls all the shots with the children’s life and money.  If the guardian is a responsible person and good with money, that may be the best decision. 
 
However, if the guardian is a great caregiver but terrible with money, or if you want to make sure someone else is involved and watching over the situation, you can appoint another person to be the trustee.  In this situation, the guardian has to go to the trustee for permission to buy things using the inheritance fund.  That could be a major protection for your children if the guardian is not so experienced with investments or if you want a check and balance system.  Your attorney can draft your will with these issues in mind.  It offers you great flexibility to craft what makes the most sense for your unique family situation.

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* The content of this page is for informational purposes only.  It does not serve as legal advice and should not be taken as such.  There is nothing published on this website that is intended to create an attorney-client relationship.  If you have a legal issue, you should consult with a licensed attorney directly.

Don’t you want a plan for who will take care of your young children?
 
If you have young children, do you care what school district you live in?  Do you care who your child gets as a teacher?  Their grades?  What about the food they eat?  Their friends?  Their extracurricular activities?  The answers to these are of course “yes.”  So ask yourself this, if something tragic happened and your children were suddenly orphaned, wouldn’t you care about who took parental control over them?  Their guardian will have an enormous impact over every aspect of your child’s life!
 
If you and your spouse died, the court appoints someone as guardian of your minor children.  Without a will, the court will make the best determination it can.  Perhaps in your family it would be blatantly obvious who should and would fit the bill.  Say, for example, your parents and in-laws are retired and living in Florida, your spouse has no siblings, but your brother and his family live next door to you.  Your brother has children roughly the same age as your children, you all see each other all the time, and all the kids go to the same schools.  Chances are, everyone on both sides of the family will say your brother is the best option.  No one fights about it, and the court approves it. 
 
But, what if your spouse also has a brother in the area?  What if your parents and your in-laws live in the area?  Are there ever arguments about whose house to go to for Thanksgiving?  Do you sometimes have to go to both sides of the family for special occasions?  If you do not designate who you want to serve as the guardian, are you leaving behind a big court battle with legal expenses and hard feelings as sides fight to take custody of your kids?  Even if it doesn’t rise to that level, are you at least leaving behind some ill will?  Is it possible that your assertive and opinionated uncle will push and win custody over your shy and reserved aunt, even though your loud mouth uncle isn’t truly the best person to take care of your children?   
 
With that in mind, it really may be worth it for you to think hard now about who you’d want to take care of your kids.  Then, have a discussion with that person about the plan to ensure they are onboard and expecting the responsibility.  You minimize the risk of people fighting for custody, you minimize the potential for legal fees, and you minimize the potential for resentment between family members as people generally will want to respect your known wishes.  Writing those wishes down in a will not only minimizes those risks, but also maximizes the likelihood that the court will appoint the person you know to be the best choice.  Does this mean a fight absolutely won’t happen?  Does this guarantee everyone will act perfectly nicely with each other?  Of course not – nothing is guaranteed.  But, a will that designates the guardian does go a long way to minimizing those chances.  And that may mean a big difference in the lives of your kids.

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* The content of this page is for informational purposes only.  It does not serve as legal advice and should not be taken as such.  There is nothing published on this website that is intended to create an attorney-client relationship.  If you have a legal issue, you should consult with a licensed attorney directly.

Do you want to leave anything to your spouse?  Well, if you have kids or grandkids but you fail to execute a will, your spouse will own none of your property. 
 
If you die without a will in Louisiana, the state rules are not very kind to your spouse.  If a spouse dies leaving behind one or more children, then ownership of all of that spouse’s property is left to his or her children and not to the surviving spouse!  If a spouse dies leaving behind no children or grandchildren, even then not all of his or her property is left to the surviving spouse – some of it is left to his or her parents and siblings instead! 
 
Let’s take an example.  You are the wife.  Your husband bought his car before you were married.  After your marriage, you and your husband bought a house.  This means the car is his separate property and the house is community property (the house belongs half to you and half to your husband).  Your husband dies suddenly and he does not have a will.  What happens?  If your husband did not have any children, you get the entire house.  However, you do not get the car – it goes to his parents and siblings!  Assuming your husband would rather leave his car to you, a will can easily fix this. 
 
Now, if your husband left behind a child – this is where it gets more interesting.  You also do not get the car – the child inherits it.  As for the house, you still own half of it outright – you always own half of all community property.  However, the other half that belonged to your husband passes to the child, not to you!  You do, however, retain certain rights over the child’s half of the house.  You can still live there, or you can lease it and keep the rent money.  But, you cannot sell the house without your child’s permission.  You can’t even take out a mortgage on the house without that child’s permission, even if it is needed to pay for their college tuition!  Also, you may be required to post a bond in order to continue to live in the house.  That means depositing some amount of your cash with the court until the house is sold.  Further, if you ever remarry or live with someone as if you were married, all your rights to the child’s half of the house disappear forever.  Your child could then force the house to be sold – and he or she keeps one half of the sales proceeds!  And it doesn’t stop there – this situation could also be bad news for the child.  As the owner of the other half of the house, the child would also have liabilities associated with owning half the house – including lawsuits, major repairs and taxes. 
 
Does this sound good?  Maybe for you it does, or at least not bad enough to care.  But, if you do care, you should know that creating a will can alleviate most or all of these issues.  If you would prefer to leave all or most of your property to your spouse, which many people do, then a will can go to great lengths to accomplish that in Louisiana.  In your will, you can leave all your property – both community and separate – to your spouse.  In the example above, that would mean that the wife inherits the car and the house.  The only impediment to leaving everything to your spouse are the forced heir laws in Louisiana, which generally block you from leaving everything you own outright to your spouse if you die leaving behind a child that is under 24 years old or disabled at any age.  But, even so, your will correctly drafted can minimize or even eliminate the impact of forced heirship, including leaving your spouse extremely broad management power over the forced portion, granting your spouse the ability to sell and mortgage the property, and relieving your spouse of bond requirements.  The technicalities here are lengthy and this discussion only addresses the basics – you should speak to an attorney for more information on this topic. 
 
In conclusion, if you want your spouse to inherit and benefit as much as possible from your estate, then in Louisiana you need to execute a will. 

* The content of this page is for informational purposes only.  It does not serve as legal advice and should not be taken as such.  There is nothing published on this website that is intended to create an attorney-client relationship.  If you have a legal issue, you should consult with a licensed attorney directly.

People don’t generally talk about death.  It’s upsetting, unpleasant to think about, and usually an inappropriate topic of conversation.  So, we avoid it.  That’s funny in a way because none of us are getting out of this place alive.  Bearing down and forcing yourself to think about what happens is actually a very smart move for you and your family. 
 
For those people that like allowing the State to make major life decisions for them, Louisiana (like all states) has conveniently passed laws that provide directions if someone dies without a will – it’s a government one-size-fits-all default will.  If you happen to die unmarried, with no children and with little to no assets, then the State’s will might do just fine – if you really don’t care what happens after you’ve moved on.    
 
However, if you are married, if you have children, or if you have money and property that you care about, it is very possible that you will not like the Louisiana default will.  The family you leave behind may like it even less.  Dying without a will may lead to costly and unexpected effects to your relatives.  Investing a small amount of time, money, and effort now could prevent an unhappy outcome for your loved ones.  Confronting the reality of death – difficult as that naturally is – and putting your affairs in order may be a major benefit to your family.  It may also offer you the peace of mind of knowing you have taken care of them. 
 
So, why bother making a last will and testament in Louisiana?  This series will take on the dreaded death discussion and will provide seven answers to that question.  The fundamental answers are:
 
Answer 1 – Money!  Do you want to leave anything to your spouse?  Well, if you have kids or grandkids but you fail to execute a will, your spouse will own none of your property. 
 
Answer 2 – Children!  Don’t you want a plan for who will take care of your young children?
 
Answer 3 – Trust!  Do you want to protect the money and property you leave to your young children?
 
Answer 4 – Control!  Do you want to try to avert your estate falling into chaos?
 
Answer 5 – Choice!  Do you want to leave anything to a non-family member, like a caregiver or a charity?
 
Answer 6 – Taxes!  Do you want to make sure you minimize potential taxes so that your heirs take as much as possible?
 
Answer 7 – Timing!  All these decisions have to be made in the living years. 

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* The content of this page is for informational purposes only.  It does not serve as legal advice and should not be taken as such.  There is nothing published on this website that is intended to create an attorney-client relationship.  If you have a legal issue, you should consult with a licensed attorney directly.