Sign Georgia Banking Last Will And Testament Safe

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hey there so in this video we're gonna talk about where you should store your last will and testament I'm Paul Rabelais I'm an estate planning attorney asked quite a bit Paul where should we keep our last will and testament and it's an important question because when somebody passes away people need to have access to the will the you know the right people need to have access because it needs to be we know one of the first things that happens it gets filed and the succession or probate proceeding to start the succession perhaps get the executor confirmed by a judge and then ultimately at the end have a judge order the disposition of the assets to the heirs that are named in the will so it's really critical that the original can be located easily after somebody passes away a lot of different options there on where to keep it let's talk through a few of them first one as some people say well you know we did a will forty years ago I guess it was filed at the courthouse you know at least here in Louisiana wills don't get filed at the courthouse until after somebody passes away when that you know court proceeding get started can't start the court proceeding you know that succession or probate proceeding that court supervised process of getting everything transferred to the heirs can start that until after somebody passes away so Wills typically aren't filed at the courthouse you know while the person who wrote the will is still living some people say well Paul I tell you what let's just we'll keep our will at our home another another alternative there the advantages of that are the will is easily accessible by the surviving family members when somebody passes away the Wills right there perhaps on the shelf in the home and so you can take a look at it if you need to if you're wondering whether things should be changed or updated it's all right there disadvantages particularly in the last few years in Louisiana we had a little hurricane called Katrina and boy did that wipe out some people's wills wills went off you know floating into the water we had a flood in Baton Rouge couple of years ago 2016 wills floated away wills were gone and when that's the case you know it's back to we're back to a situation where the person's deemed to have died intestate or without a will which could be very different results from what you provided for in the will so if you're going to keep it at home make sure you keep it in a waterproof fireproof safe preferably one that's large enough or built into the structure so that you know theft is not an issue some people say Paul well perhaps we should keep our will in our safe deposit box well then you if you do that you've got to determine whether you're keeping it in a safe deposit box that no one has access to after you pass away or someone has access to it when you pass away if if you put it in your safe deposit box and no one else has access to that box then nobody's going to be able to get into that box to get your will after you pass away without some kind of court order which is a bit of an inconvenience so some people put theirs will in their safe deposit box and make sure that either their spouse or their trusted child or some other third person is listed as having access to the box so when the person pass away that passes away that other person can go to the bank and access that safe deposit box retrieve the will some people on the other hand say we we left our will with our attorney that's another option I've never been a big fan of leaving your will with your in it with your attorney because attorneys move all over the place and and so the will may not be accessible 10 20 30 40 years after you wrote the will and somebody passes away you may not be able to find that attorney another reason I'm not real crazy about you know the attorney keeping the will is when the attorney has the will and the person who wrote the will passes away those surviving family members are really forced to go back to that lawyer back to that law firm back to that attorney's office and say our our spouse our husband our wife our Father our mother passed away you have the will we need it kind of puts the surviving family members in a scenario where they feel obliged to have to use the attorney for all of those probate services and being an attorney I know that kind of a lot of attorneys you know use that as a business advantage to them well hey I'm gonna keep the will and the real money is when in the preparation of the will but the real money is in the probate I'm gonna keep the will so the family's gonna have to come back to me and it puts everybody in an awkward situation if when the person dies the surviving family members don't want to use the services of that particular attorney your law firm that's in possession of the will so you know maybe not the best place there either Louisiana we have something that I don't see used very often it's called a will registration form and it's issued by the Louisiana Secretary of State and here's a copy of Louisiana's will registration form that the Secretary of State here has here's the way it works it says file this original will registration form and the filing fee of $10 with the Secretary of State it says in big bold capital letters do not enclose a copy or the actual will so really this is something maintained by the Secretary of State and it just really talks about the existence of the will and where that will might be so the information that one provides to the Secretary of State is your name your address your social security number or other identifying number your birthdate where you were born and then you can fill in in the lines toward the bottom you can write in the intended place of deposit or safekeeping of the instrument or the name and address of the attorney or other person having information regarding the place of deposit or safekeeping of the instrument so then the idea is after you pass away your survivors can go to the secretary Secretary of State Secretary of State won't release any information until a valid death certificate is provided to the Secretary of State one with a fee of $10 and then they'll release the information that's on here to that survivor so don't really see people using this very much but it's another option out there if you want to document where you intend to keep your will and you want to document that with the Secretary of State's office that's available bottom line here is store your will in a safe place let those that or those individual or individuals that you trust to handle that when you pass away let them know of its existence and its location so they can take care of your business after you pass away and so just explore all those different options that you have keep it in the right place and let those trusted people know of its existence and location hope that helps I'm Paul Rabelais go out have a great day