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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,…