Wills

DH and I both got them made up when we got our mortgage. All you need to do is go into the lawyers and they ask basic questions about how you want your estate split, what happens if one of you passes away or if both do. Ours is a fairly basic one saying that if one of us dies the other gets everything and if both die we have named all our parents as trustees and they figure out what to do with our stuff. We also have a clause in it to say that if we have children it is basically the same deal and if we are both gone then our mothers are guardians and they work it out between them. They were all very happy with that. If we change our minds all it takes is a call to the lawyers to tell them what we want changed and they will draft a new one for us to sign.

that's quite funny, DP and i have just recently been talking about getting a will. we figured it's kind of important now that we have a kid and a house.
it's pretty easy for us because he doesn't get on with his parents so we both want mikey to go to my parents if anything happens (touch wood).

Thanks everyone Its a bit tricky as we would like my parents to take hannah cos we know Daniels mum wouldnt manage after her stroke but I know she would love to. Something to add to my to do list...

One thing to look for is how much it costs overall. Someone offers them for free, but when you do die and the will has to be read there are huge costs.

We've done ours through public trust although there is extra stuff we put in. The boys will go to our family friends but we put in stuff about how our parents must be allowed access, etc. My mum was fine with it, but I know my dad would've prefered thwe boys stay in "our" family. I putt hat in more to placate him as I know our friends will do what best for the boys.

OK so I had a look at Public Trust and that all looks good, but who would you get to manage your estate when you die if its not a public trust person? If only I died, would Daniel get to sort everything out? WHat if we both died together?

Hmmmm, maybe we will do the same as you Maria. Free one for now with the basics and with a lawyer later I have kept looking through public trust and there are lots of estate fees and services that really do add up to a lot

Check with your lawyer first though, some places don't charge very much at all because there isnt a lot a lawyer actually needs to do, its his lowly assistant that will do the majority of the work. If you have a good lawyer they may even let you draw it up yourself and then just get it witnessed in there and they can hold it for you. Normally your executor is a lawyer and a family member or someone nominated by you. Its really important to do one otherwise it can take a lot of time to sort out at then end going through public trust etc... Becca it wouldnt matter that Kiya isnt Nats, he can leave her whatever he likes and you can still leave her is his care. You just need to state exactly what you want to happen. In saying all that I work in a law firm and we still havent done a will, Ive drafted heaps but never got around to getting them witnessed. We left our dog to my sister with $10,000 for his care, he's so big I had to bribe someone to take him lol.

This is something that we also need to get onto. We've already asked the relevant people if they will be guardians should anything happen to us and they have accepted but we need to make sure everything is legal and drawn up.

Reading everything on here I think I'd rather go through a solicitor but just need to find one! Might see if the inlaws have one.

When I took Willie to court for custody of Maya a few years ago my lawyer at the time offered to do a will for $75, so it's not that expensive neccessarily with a lawyer.

I didn't get around to it tho - it's on my to-do list. I have to get my parents appointed as testementary guardians of Maya because if anything happened to me I would want them to take her, not Willie. Nothing against him, and we've discussed it at length, but I know that my parents would make sure she is raised the way I want her to bed, and gets a good education etc. whereas Willie isn't in a position to do that.

NOt sure if my parents would take on THREE kids tho...