Rest easy: Draw up your last will and testament online
Last will and testament spells out who will be the beneficiaries of your assets in the event of your death. Drawing up a last will and testament is a fairly intricate task. Sometimes it can bother on cumbersome as well since it involves a certain form of legalese and requires familiarity with state laws. It is quite common to take the assistance of a legal expert to ease the process of writing a last will and testament.
These forms are pre-formatted and just require you to fill in the necessary details. Before filling in the details, you need to acquaint yourself with some basic legal terms that will come up in the last will and testament form.
- Beneficiary: This term is used for anyone who receives a gift or benefits from a trust.
- Bequest: This term is used for testamentary gift (that is, a gift made by a will). This can be personal property, which traditionally can anything other than money.
- Testate – This term refers to the person who is deceased and had created a will before death.
- Testator – This term refers to the person who signs the will, that is, the person whose will it is.
- Executor: This term is used to refer to the person who is responsible for the execution of the will. Generally, the testator nominates an executor in the will.
- Legacy: This term is used to refer to a testamentary gift of money.
- Legatee – This term refers to the person who is a beneficiary of a legacy.
- Specific legacy (or specific bequest) – This term refers to a testamentary gift of a specific object.
Some of these terms may differ in different forms. Make sure to verify that you correcting understand the meaning of each and every term that occur in the form you have chosen to use. You will also have to ensure that your chosen form complies with the laws of the state you reside in. Making sure that you will is correct according all legal requirements avoids the hassles of your requests from becoming invalidate in the court of law. Although, the online last will and testament forms let you make your own will without a lawyer, it is advised that you consult a legal expert to ensure that your online will and testament meets all the necessary legalities.
