International Wills and Estate Planning

[glennonr 0]

Does anyone have any info on making sure your will and/or estate plan will be valid in another country?

Now that my beautiful Guatemalan wife and I have a child we are looking at creating wills. We realize that family members in both countries will be fighting over our son if anything happens to us. Now that we have decided on a particular family that we feel confident will raise our chil(ren) the way we would want, how do we go about making sure that any will or estate plan we set up here in Michigan will also be valid and enforced in Guatemala.

We are planning to file for dual citizenship for our child(ren), myself, and my wife (U.S. and Guatemala). Not sure if that would have any implications.

I feel comfortable using something like a LegalZoom.com product for setting up the will here in Michigan. However, I want to make sure that if we are in Guatemala and something happens to us that our wishes will still be followed.

Any advice?

[TBoneTX 47,549]

Smart thinking, si man. I'd consult multiple abogados in both the U.S. and Guatemala. Actually, before doing that, you might want to see if the U.S. embassy down there has any insights (ask for the "citizen services" department), and you may even consider phoning a Guatemalan consulate here in the U.S. in order to ask the same questions.

Let us know what you learn, because this is knowledge that could benefit many, si man.