I recently met with a couple who wanted what I’ll call an estate planning checkup. They said they had a will and just wanted me to check to make sure everything was in order.

When we met, I asked to see their wills. She produced a very simple, generic will. She sheepishly admitted that she had printed it off the Internet a few years ago. In reviewing it, I saw that on her death, everything went to him if he was alive. If he was not alive, it went out right to their kids. Although it had normal (albeit brief) powers authorizing the personal representative to do whatever was necessary to take care of the estate, it did not allow for what is called independent administration.

She was surprised when I explained to her that the will would require the court to oversee and approve everything in the administration of her estate. She apparently thought you avoided probate with a will. A will is only a roadmap through probate. It doesn’t avoid probate. We then discussed ways to avoid probate.

I also talked about the problems with giving property outright to children. If they kept it in their own individual names, the assets could be exposed to the claims of their creditors. If they married and put it in joint names with their spouses, half of it could be taken in divorce. We talked about ways to avoid that.

I then looked at the signature page. She had, in fact, signed the will. There were spaces for the signatures of two witnesses, but they were blank. There wasn’t a notary block at all.

I explained to her that her will was not valid. On the death of the second of them to die, their estate would have to be administered by intestate succession (the will Missouri has written for you). They were not happy to hear that.

In order to have a valid will, there are generally certain requirements that have to be satisfied. There are some exceptions, but that will be for another column. Generally, in order to have a valid will in the state of Missouri, the testator has to be competent. Testamentary competency is very basic: you need to generally know what’s going on; you need to generally know the nature and extent of your estate; and you need to know the objects of your beneficence (that’s a fancy law school word for who your kids are). In addition, the will has to be written. You need to publish or declare that it is your will in front of witnesses. And the witnesses need to sign the will declaring that they found you to be competent and that you signed it in front of them. Although not required for a valid will, we always add a notary block regarding the witnesses’ signatures. Otherwise, on your death, we need to track the witnesses down, drag them to court, and have them prove that those are their signatures on the will.

I understand that people are trying to economize. But I have found generally that homemade wills end up costing a lot of money and causing a lot of problems.

Give me a call. Let’s talk.

Fred Vilbig © 2023