FAQ Friday: Will "sections"
On Friday, June 11th at 8 a.m. EST, Mr. Berger discusses the sections of a will and their purpose.
Basic law in Maryland requires that a Testator be 18 years of age or older, and competent. The Will is used to write out their wishes in front of two witnesses and it is legally binding. If there are ambiguities, there could be a Will contest.
In our Wills, we don’t want to leave anything to interpretations. The preamble tells us who you are, revokes past Wills and discusses family. Even if you don’t leave anything to the family, they are still interested parties.
Tangible personal property discusses household goods, clothing etc. that you can pass to specific people. A memo is instructions on where property goes, Only titled property are boats and vehicles.
Residuary estate covers everything else (bank accounts, investments and real estate). A section naming the Personal Representative and one or two back ups. All children have equal priority to be the PR if you don’t name one.
We can lists payments to PR’s and also include Trusts-usually always have these when minor children are involved. A contest clause such as revoking inheritance if someone wants to make it difficult for the PR can also be included. We include a lot of definitions.
The person who signs is the testator, the two witnesses note that the person appears to have the ability to sign and testator should see the witnesses sign as well. The notary is not required in Maryland, though some other states do.
Register the original with the register of wills office as well as a copy for you
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