Wills for Permanent resident

[Garfield fan 0]

I don't think that I want to apply for naturalization and just keep my PR status, but I have some concerns of what a PR can or cannot do, one of them is being able to make a will for my assets in US. Does anyone know if there is any special requirements for this ? Also, how much usually will it cost to make one ? Hubby doesn't have any right now, but he's thinking of getting one too. Advise needed ...

[Cristy 4]

We both need to do that, with kids and property and stuff we need to get it sorted out. Not even sure where to start.

[wherezdabearz 1]

Funnily enough, we have just come back from the lawyer's office after signing our wills. I definitely wouldn't do something as important as this without a lawyer (although I was quite happy to do immigration stuff on my own...). Wasn't a problem and I'm not even a permanent resident yet.

Only thing you might want to consider is that if assets are inherited by US citizen from non US citizen spouse, my lawyer thinks there might be high taxes on the estate. This is apparently not the case if both spouses are US citizens. Might be something to look into.

Alison

[Garfield fan 0]

Funnily enough, we have just come back from the lawyer's office after signing our wills. I definitely wouldn't do something as important as this without a lawyer (although I was quite happy to do immigration stuff on my own...). Wasn't a problem and I'm not even a permanent resident yet.

Only thing you might want to consider is that if assets are inherited by US citizen from non US citizen spouse, my lawyer thinks there might be high taxes on the estate. This is apparently not the case if both spouses are US citizens. Might be something to look into.

Alison

Thanks for the info. Yes, we are definitely going to use lawyer to take care of this. Do you know how much lawyers usually charge for wills ? Just want to know the average cost before we shop around.

Edited August 31, 2006 by Garfield fan

[wherezdabearz 1]

Ours charges per hour/fraction of an hour so it depends on how much time you spend in his/her office as well as how much time it takes to draw up the will. We had to see her twice - once as an initial consultation and once to read through wills, make changes and sign. And it would be worth shopping around. We're in a small town in Montana so I'm sure the fees we paid are much less than they would be in a large city or in most other States! I don't think you necessarily have to see a lawyer in your own town although they probably do have to be in the same State.

I would discuss everything very thoroughly with your spouse and write down a list BEFORE you see the lawyer so you spend less time in his/her office discussing it (and paying to do so).

Apart from the obvious, you'll also need to decide what would happen if both of you die at the same time or if one dies just before the other (in an accident for example) - come up with a chain of inheritance. Creepy, I know, but there you go...

Also, make sure you have full names and addresses of anyone who's being mentioned in the will and if there's a chance they might be under 18 at the time they inherit something you might want to appoint a trustee for them to look after the money for them until they reach that age - trustee can be any adult. We were also asked to choose a 'personal representative' to be in charge of making sure that our wishes are carried out. We chose each other with one back up in case of death of first choice ( ! ). The will can take care of ALL your assets, so if one of you still has assets in home country you can include these in the will and you can also nominate a personal representative from your home country to deal with foreign assets.

That's all the potentially useful info I can think of based on our own experience.

And, of course, I am not a lawyer...etc

Edited August 31, 2006 by wherezdabearz