when preparing for their final bow some individuals request that their ashes be scattered into outer space or the south pacific others choose to set up a multi million dollar trust fund to ensure that their cat or dog is well cared for after they've departed and then there are many of us who make very few plans for our property and our finances according to a two thousand and sixteen gallup poll only fifty five percent of americans have a last will and testament so what should we think about as we ponder the legal aspects of a state planning welcome to pro se nation i'm mar work so this is kind of an interesting top well it's an interesting topic to me now but i have to say for most of my life it wasn't right i think i may have fallen into that category of people who sort of  think estate planning is only for the very wealthy and i don't know tell me is can you clarify is that a myth is estate planning only for the very wealthy well estate planning is for everybody the misses out there though and especially especially if you question the young the younger generation the younger age group versus the older that the ones that really understand a little bit more about the property in the state what is what is in the state but if you are if you question the younger person whether in the state planning is for wealthy or not the answer is usually along the the lines of a myth and that's usually due to the fact the how in the state as well as defined in terms we're used to thinking or rather picturing to us what it was what is in the state right we're right we're conjuring up an image of this huge house on  about the three most important aspects of a state planning that everyone should think about even if you know they don't have the grand home with the long driveway well essentially what is in a state what is a state planning estate planning is determining what how to distribute assets after one after after death and so the main  the three main aspects would be really identifying what it is that you own ok so your property and that could be depressing to some people right it could be very very very often  for a majority of america what one owns is really their residence right hopefully that's that's where it stands although many americans have much more than that once they start thinking about it right ok really once once people ident the start thinking about their assets they really start focusing on what it is that they truly own and if they're sometimes they're pleasantly surprised  are pretty valuable as well and so really identifying what you own the second thing is is zeroing in on who should get that now and for most families that's kind of a and easy solution but it is something not not always is that the case for example if let's say you have a large family and one of the children is had a troubled period of during life and you had to come in and help them out so you really have to consider ok will fight you fight divorce distribute now my estate equally one of my other kids going to say are they going to claim is unfair which is day they were they have a prevalently the spouse but not always is that the case especially if it's a second or third marriage ok so that's another thing that you've got to really consider so that's number two on the  it's it's usually not even a question it's specially if it's a smaller family a tight knit family it's usually either one of the spouses or the oldest child or both of the children or the child who happens to reside near the near the parent but that's not always the case especially if the children a distant or strange or if somebody who is actually living nearby is not money savvy to really handle things or on the other hand to too savvy too controlling and you fear that that person is looks like an angel now but representative has also used ok i'm well before we get to some of the other nuts and bolts questions i'd actually like to explore sort of some of the psychological reasons why people may shove this off right i mean even if they really understand what it is they may say for instance i actually wrote a will i know thirteen years ago when my mother died i have yet to get it  arized or make it formal right so i started thinking about this as i was planning this show let's face it this is kind of you know only fifty five percent of the people in america have a will why is that is it partially do you think because one has to face one's mortality and how much of that is at play here  well mortality is really a topic that we rather not discuss you know people as as a as a whole don't really really like to think about their mentality that's first of all but you know it that's something that is inevitable we are all mortal but at the same time it is a topic that is has a lowest priority so we are kind of they ok fine i'll  plate in front of me i am so and i'm a younger person and i don't really i don't really anticipate dying in another forty forty fifty years from now right and for that reason i think that is not i can wait they can have a chance to plan for a certain point in the future we really don't know the date of our death and for that reason everyone should you know that should kind of elevate the priority right well and the other thing that you brought up which is making decisions about who will be the executor for instance and even getting down into the details of how you are a state is going to be divided to say if you have you know however many children or however many people are going to be involved that also can be a kind of distasteful conversation or even thinking about that right you may be on the outs with one one may not be able to handle money very well so it's you know it's like this whole you know feast of questions that you'd rather not deal with right one right so one of the one of the ways to really somebody for someone to really approach a topic is really understand that it is their funds their their money their estate that they're discussing so i think on one and one in certain extent they have this fear that let me look over my shoulder see see what other people think of my decision but it really shouldn't be that way it's your fund your state your decision and so i thing i think the most more the people who are have been decisive about this and have actually done the planning are those that approach it with  that mindset this is what i own this is what i work for this is what i quired and therefore it's going to be my decision and then i'll discuss it maybe i'll discuss it with my family and i'll see what they have to say about that but again even when when comments are solicit that people have to approach the state planning with this kind of decisiveness right i am not looking for people to approve of my actions ok this of this is my funds this is my state and i'm making the decision well ok so since you brought that up how many people come to you or how do you handle  some a client who comes to you and says you know i'd actually like to set up a one hundred thousand dollars fund so that my cat is taken care of or my dog or something like you know something that's a little bit maybe out of the ordinary how how do you do you deal with that very much or sometimes if that that happens actually with you know quite often that people who have pets and buy as pets are very dear to them right there is something that's called a pet it how much should be allocated to that to that pet and what would be this standard of living or existing what it should know if for for a person  and let's say a widow or widower unfortunately the kids get bigger they move out and there's really no one there rush so that can't or dog has kept them company for all this time so why shouldn't they  sounds i hate to say the term the w term weird it sounds weird no it's not we really weird it's really you know you're grateful to that cat or dog it's there the kept you there it kept you going at that kept you from from from this melancholy loneliness right right and so you want to take care of its problem you know that there are means to take care of that as well getting to we talked a little bit about myth s you know i've always heard and i don't know whether this is an urban legend you know if you die intestate right without a will that the state takes half of what you own just just like that is that true though that's not true and that it's actually very it's actually the state may or may take what what you leave behind but that doesn't it's not really isolated it's not really isolated to just cases of intestate passing if that happens if if let's say you make a will and the will is then there dormant for fifty sixty years and you've outlived everyone who is on that will will doesn't really provide for the disposition so now now there will even falls into a desk a city and then at that point we look around and we are faced with the same issue like one who is sure who should be getting this estate so then the state because things shouldn't be lingering there may be a creditors who the state steps steps into the shoes of an heir collects the funds and keeps them until somebody comes along and claims them and proves that they are in there to this estate so it happens sometimes it's a remote suppose a situation because in testis they estat in test to see statues really  and at that point the state does receive it because that's just an orderly way of getting about it it's not an automatic thing ok ok so in terms of the the  ramifications really well actually i wanted to ask something else first how i mean at what age should one establish a will or does it really have to do with really how much you own at that point i mean if you're if you're in your twenty's or thirty's and you actually don't own that much i mean should you have a will at that point well it depends first of all yes it does depend on whether or not somebody has any assets it also depends on whether or not you are thinking of a family or already have a family right so if you have already have if you've gotten married special if you haven't children you have to have a will because one of the things that will does the terman is guardianship for their minor children right so that that's something that you should have even if you are living in a basement and going to school part time ok so that is just something that you should have put in the save but it is safe at home this morning a safe place where you can have your passport and just just leave it there and so that's that that's the initial phase if you if a person a single as soon as they start acquiring any kind of property they get a job right and they're there they start receiving a regular paycheck especially for a single person it's very it's kind of easier to cumulate wealth just by this trickle down process where they don't have major expenses other than their needs they're their entertainment and for that reason they may have acquire assets faster than let's say a married person would in the same position and so at that point a single person especially needs to think about the state planning and will because that family person really when the statute then when it's test and test to see really define it really the statute release begins speaking about the spouses it really focuses on the role of a family not a single individual ok yes a single individual will be accommodated right but at the same time the the if you read through the statute the focus is is on the family unit so so an individual is not as well served and for that reason and then the vigil begins to work should already think about the state planning especially if they don't have that considering marriage and for that period of time so what is it that actually makes a will legal right i mean if somebody just writes up a will you know they write up their wishes for their property or how their cat's going to be taken care of or whatever and then they just sort of have it on their laptop or they have it in their safe or something like that what makes it legal well it needs to be acknowledged and it should be acknowledged before the before two witnesses has to be signed oh ok and of to witness ok and it original it should be signed no new jersey obviously if you if you didn't get a chance to sign if you wrote something out there are ways to get the fact you have to prove handwriting but you you couldn't you could prove that this  s this was a person's will but really if you want to be on the safe side you really have to disclose wishes again you have to focus on identify your family in the best of your ability determine who gets what that's that's really they before two witnesses and before a notary and or before an attorney in new jersey in new jersey and that really that would make the wheel will legally enforceable if you don't do these things it may be found defective and then you have to go before surrogates go to see if we can then what are some of the things that would make it defective like for instance if i don't know if somebody were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they did this or or there was some kind of duress how i would imagine those situations kind of those arise well duress meant a lack of mental capacity is one is one of the major mean ones the arrests and that's kind of something we discussed beef in be a previously about somebody was too controlling if for example if somebody resides with one of the children and one of the children really takes care of the elderly persons every single need right then full of a sudden they make the elderly person change their will so that's one of those things that kind of point a that  that target of suspicion on i on that on that well those not on the automatic it doesn't make it defective there's there's a perception a presumption maybe a defect presumed and then there is a defectiveness in internally in  not the it where it defective meaning if for example defective in it in the sense of the word defective is when you present a copy not their original to the story gets court that it could be corrected but it's defective because it's a copy ok that's the that's the essential defect of the will it's a copy or it's unsigned or right but it's also could be that their will is just is just useless because it's just hasn't been drafted in the way with where it would set up these essential terms ok so what are some of the ramifications what are the things the usual things that people lose if they don't do this kind of planning i mean obviously money but how you know but do that i mean how does that work if someone just you know sort of shrug their shoulders doesn't do this kind of planning and maybe they have a half a million dollars or something then what happens when rowe one of the first one of the i guess the primary risk is that they they may plunge their family may some subject their family to cause some kind of animist to mistrust because now people families have to get together and plan for distribution and if you didn't identify this tribute and the families have to now get   surviving spouse or a survivor children who are living locally that's that's another relatively easy solution but if it's otherwise if it's if it's a person who has been living who was probably outlive some of their right well i just actually we're almost out of time but i just wanted to ask you another quick question basically i would imagine the you know the most positive thing that comes out of the planning is what would you say peace of mind i said my dismay is an accurate expression it's a piece of mind where you have decided things on your terms or somebody else and that really relieves your loved ones from the stress  so you giving in and that's so that's probably the biggest value of the will at that point right peace of mind is a good expression actually one of our other programs dealt with living wills you know advance directives and it really the same thing comes out of it you know the idea that once you face the inevitable and you make these decisions i would imagine you know you can breathe a sigh of relief that you know that's taken care of and now you can just focus on living right so and you don't have to have feuding relatives or your hat and dog fighting over your state well thank you so much thanks for being here thank you for having thanks for joining us for this edition of pro se nation if you have any ideas for future topics or you'd like to be a guest on the show please contact us through our website