Harry: -- estimated that up to 70% of adult Americans do not have a will. And that is a big mistake according to our financial advisor Ray Martin Assumed spelling, especially since you can create them cheaply and quickly these days. Ray, good morning. Ray Martin: Hey, good morning, Harry.
Harry: Who should have a will? Ray Martin: You know, if you -- parents or minor children and you want to name, make sure you can name a guardian for those children. You need to have a will. If you're a young couple and you own a house or an apartment, pretty big asset. If the two of you passed away together you need to know how that will be distributed among your two families, you need to have a will to do that. You have older parents who gave you some money, assets, and if you pass away you want to make sure it's used to care for them.
Harry: Right. Ray Martin: You need to have a will to do that. So there's a lot of reasons that have little to do with having a lot of money or being rich. You don't have to be rich to need a will, a lot of people in a lot of situations need a will to name who will care for their children or how their assets will be passed on.
Harry: Because what happens in all of those scenarios when you don't have a legal document? Ray Martin: If you don't have a will the courts in your state, for example, will determine who will be the guardian for your children. For example, the surviving parent. If no parent, then they'll make a decision on that. It may not be according to your wishes. The states, all states have laws on how your assets are split up. And it typically includes surviving supposes, parents, and children. Not just one of those parties. So if you want to make sure --
Multiple voices speaking Ray Martin: You need a will to do it.
Harry: There you go. Lawyers can be very, very expensive. And you say you don't always need to go to a lawyer to do this, right? Ray Martin: The reason why a lot of people give for not getting a will done is they don't want to spend the time or money it takes to have a will Inaudible in these difficult financial economic times you know, that's a valid concern. The American Bar Association says it can coast $800 to $1,000 to have an attorney prepare a will. You don't have to have an attorney prepare a will. You can hand write it, you can use a computer program or a legal documents preparation service. I always advise going to an attorney, particularly when you have a more complicated situation. But if you're going to use "I don't want to go to an attorney and pay for it" as a reason not to have a will, then I've got some do-it-yourself will solutions as an alternative if you choose to do that.
Harry: Let's start with this guy, what is this? Ray Martin: This is --
Harry: Quicken, right? Ray Martin: This is Quicken WillMaker Plus. The 2009 version. It's a product provided by Nolo, the company that has a whole host of legal do-it-yourself business publications and books. Really quality product. This is a product a software package you can download on your computer, and then you can use to answer questions and then check out the documents you want; wills, living will, healthcare proxy, Inaudible it will complete those documents for you. But it's more than just a software program, it's more of legal documents preparation package. It has an online guide, it helps --
Harry: -- think through the questions you really need to answer. Ray Martin: Organize your thoughts, and you know, for $49, I've used it, the versions of this myself. Load this on your computer. And you use this to prepare promissory notes, housekeeping agreements, pet care agreements, child care agreements, all these other things as well. So it's a great value.
Harry: Another alternative, there's an online alternative? Ray Martin: Yeah. If you don't want to just use a computer program and you want some help, there's Legalzoom.com. A service founded by attorneys where you go on line, open an account, you answer a questionnaire, and then you submit that back, and they have trained professionals that go through that, prepare the documents that you need, send them to you to review, they have online support via e-mail and by phone. So -- to help you through the process. And you can get a will prepared for something as little as 70 to $120.
Harry: All right , last but not least, say I go through al of this, I actually have my will. A lot of people think I'm going to take it and put it in a safe deposit box. Right answer or wrong answer? Ray Martin: Wrong answer. When banks read the obituaries and find out that you passed away, they automatically have to seal your safe deposit box. And it requires a court order and a witness to open it. And your representatives need a copy of a will well before that. What you should do is keep your will with your legal documents at home in a safe place, fire proof box. Or give it to your attorney and have them keep it in their will vault. Even if they don't prepare it, they'll be happy to do that for you.
Harry: Ray Martin, as always, thank you so much. For more on creating wills go to our web site Earlyshow.cbsnews.com.
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