A Last Will is the legal expression of a person's wishes, or "will" as to the disposition of his or her property upon the person's death. The law as to the validity, execution and modification of wills is quite involved and technical, and is the subject of a great deal of misunderstanding. In the hope of dispelling some of them, the following common questions and answers are given.

WHAT CAN A WILL DO FOR ME?

In a Will you may designate who will receive your assets at your death. You may designate someone (called a "Personal Representative" in Florida and in some states an "Executor") to appear before the court, collect your assets, pay your debts and taxes, and distribute your assets as you specify. You may nominate someone (called a "Guardian") to raise your children who are under age 18.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I DIE WITHOUT A WILL?

If you die without a Will, what you own (your "assets") in your name alone will be divided among your spouse, children, or other relatives according to state law. While the law varies form state to state, generally all provide for a substantial amount of assets to go to your surviving spouse, and the balance equally to your children. Obviously, many variations are possible, such as dying without children, with one or more children predeceasing you leaving children of their own, without a surviving spouse, without either spouse or children, with adopted children, etc., thus the facts of each case must be examined to determine where your assets would go.

ARE THERE ANY REASONS WHY I SHOULD NOT USE A SIMPLE WILL?

Yes. It is not designed to reduce death taxes. Talk to a qualified lawyer, CPA or financial planner, or all of them, to do estate tax planning, especially if your assets will be worth more than $600,000 at your death. Also, you may need more detailed estate planning if you own business related assets, you want to create a trust fund for yourself or your children or others, you want to avoid the burdens of going through a probate, you want to save probate costs, you have stepchildren or foster children whom you have or have not adopted, you own assets in some other state, you want to disinherit your spouse or descendants, or you have valuable interests in pension or profit sharing plans. You should talk to a lawyer who knows about estate planning if any of these are true, or if you feel a basic Will would not be enough.

WHAT IS PROBATE?

Simply speaking, probate is the legal system whereby your debts are paid, and the assets which you own are distributed to others. Generally speaking, the assets subject to probate are those in your own name alone, without a survivorship interest in another. If you are married, and you own all of your assets jointly with right of survivorship with your spouse, then the asset passes automatically by operation of law to the surviving spouse - such assets are not subject to probate. Also not subject to probate is money in a joint tenancy bank account, and personal property clearly held as a joint tenancy with right of survivorship - under normal circumstances these automatically belong to the other named owner without probate. Life insurance and retirement plan benefits may pass directly to the named beneficiary outside of probate. These assets may be referred to as "nonprobate" assets.

DOES A WILL AVOID PROBATE?

No. With or without a Will, assets in your name alone usually go through the court probate process.

IF I HAVE A WILL, MAY I ADD OR CROSS OUT ANY WORDS ON MY WILL?

No. If you do, the Will may be invalid or the court may ignore the crossed out or added words. You may amend a Will by a separate document (called a codicil). Talk to a lawyer if you want to do something with your assets which is not provided for in your Will.