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How Often Should You Review Your Will?
When was the last time you reviewed your will? Life changes fast—and so do the laws that govern your estate. A will that was perfect five years ago might not protect your loved ones today. In this post, we’ll cover how often you should review your will, why legal changes matter, and the key triggers…
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Estate Planning for Digital Assets: Protecting Your Online Life
Why Digital Assets Matter We often hear the warning that the internet is not real life. Although this is a useful insight for helping us avoid undue agitation from things we see online, we can’t avoid the fact that many of the activities of life happen on our computers and phones. Just as we accumulate…
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Why Advance Medical Directives Matter for Your Estate Plan
A Difficult Scenario to Imagine Okay, so you’re in a hospital, unconscious, and unfortunately your condition is such that, in the professional opinion of the doctors who are treating you, you are not going to regain consciousness, nor are you going to recover. In short, you are in the process of dying, and it won’t…
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How to Choose a Guardian for Your Children
Why This Decision Matters Few decisions weigh heavier on a parent than choosing who would raise their children if they couldn’t. It’s a question no one wants to answer, but every parent should. The idea of selecting someone to care for your children should both of their parents die or otherwise become unable to fill…
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Legal Helps for Parents of College Students
Each fall, excited students and their nervous parents participate in the tradition of college enrollment. Some students continue to live at home as they start their freshman year, while others move far from home. In addition to the numerous logistical details of signing up for classes and getting moved into dorm rooms, there are other…
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What Is the Difference Between a Will and a Living Trust?
When planning for what happens to your assets after you’re gone, two of the most common tools you may consider are wills and trusts. There is much that can be said about both categories of tools, but in broad terms, a will is a written document that meets certain legal formalities such that a court…
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What Is a Power of Attorney, and When Do You Need One?
When the Unthinkable Happens Let’s consider a rather unpleasant scenario. Imagine you’ve been involved in a serious car accident. You’re injured so badly that your medical team places you in a medically induced coma to give your body a chance to recover. In that state, you’re unable to communicate with others—or really do much at…
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How many people do you need to witness the signing of a will?
Do you need two people to witness you sign your will? Three? What about a notary? If you’ve gone to the trouble of writing a will, it makes sense to ensure that your will is as safe from being questioned and disputed as reasonably possible. What the Law Says: Virginia Code § 64.2-403 Here’s what…
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What happens to a person’s property if they die without a will?
Most Virginians know that the law of the commonwealth provides for a certain order of inheritance for a person’s property if that person dies without a will. In legal parlance, dying without a will is known as dying “intestate” and the law dealing with what happens when someone dies intestate is known as the “intestacy…
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What exactly is a will, anyway?
Perhaps you’ve had someone tell you that you “should really think about getting a will,” or maybe you’ve had that thought yourself. But what exactly counts as a will? Can you simply write “the kids get all my stuff” on a napkin, file that away and check “make a will” off your to-do list? Well,…