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A will is on my list this season, right next to setting up the business, and I would rather take you through it with me than write about it like something I finished years ago. I haven't had the full version of this conversation with my own family yet. My mom owns property and she's retired now, so I'm doing my research ahead of time, starting with something called a ladybird deed, so the house can pass on without the paperwork and the tax questions landing on whoever is grieving.
Chapter 9 of my book is about money and relationships, and a will is the relationship document nobody puts in that chapter. It says who raises your kid if you cannot. It says who gets the house, the savings, the business, the ring. Without it, the state decides, in a language your family may not speak, on a timeline that costs money the family may not have.
What a will actually does
It names a guardian for your children. It names who receives what. It names the person who carries it out. That is the whole document for most of us, and it is why the software version exists: for a family with one house, one or two kids and an account or two, the twenty minute online process covers it.
When software is enough, and when it is not
For one house, a kid or two and a couple of accounts, the software covers it. If your situation has layers (a business, a blended family, property in two countries, a family member who will need care), a lawyer is the right call and the software is the draft you bring to the appointment. Compare online will and trust services on the page money.com built for me; most plans cost less than a weekend away: the compare page (partner link).
Property is one of those layers. In a handful of states, Florida included, a ladybird deed (also called an enhanced life estate deed) lets the owner keep full control of the home for life and name who receives it, so it can pass without probate. It's the first question on my list for an estate attorney, because the tax side depends on your family's situation.
The part that is harder than the paperwork
Bringing it up. In a lot of our families, talking about a will reads like inviting death to dinner. The script that works in our families makes it about the kid and the paperwork, in that order: "I did the guardian paperwork this week, it took twenty minutes, do you want me to send you the link." Nobody has to say the word death. The Family Money Plan inside La Casa Kit has the longer version of that script, free: https://mail.therichhermana.com/products/la-casa-kit
Do it on a money date
Put it on the calendar the way you put the budget on the calendar. Candle, snack, laptop, twenty minutes. Then post in Hermana HQ that you did it, because the person reading your post is the one who has been putting it off for four years: https://mail.therichhermana.com/community
Comment WILL on any of my posts and I will send you the compare page in your DMs.
Con amor,
Ixamar 🌺