Living Will, Dying Will, Durable Power of Attorney

I don’t have a Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney. I did make a Last Will and Testament years and years ago and named my son as my sole heir. That was before I married my present husband and I read somewhere (probably some legal book) that when someone marries it makes the will null and void. So I guess I really don’t have one. Hubby and I have an appointment with an attorney next week to make our wills and such. We also have to talk to him about issues with my mother-in-law’s estate.

The Old Lady always said she had taken care of everything so that my husband would not have a hard time when she died. She did have a prepaid cremation policy and written instructions for the cremation and services, etc. She wanted one song sung at the graveside, “Amazing Grace”, one prayer and that’s it. She didn’t want services in Florida but wanted them in Iowa instead. So that part was pretty easy. Well, easy so far. The services won’t be held until the spring so that means hubby will have to fly to Iowa for that. I might even go to Iowa this time, but knowing myself the way I know myself I doubt I’ll make that trip. (I didn’t fly up for his father’s funeral in 2004).

The problem now is that we can’t find her will. We found a copy of a will she had made in 1993 but we cannot find the original anywhere. We really, really didn’t want to have to go into probate and I’m still hoping that doesn’t have to happen. Thankfully all the money was already in my husband’s name, either as beneficiary or as co-owner of the bank account. There isn’t a money estate, there is only a property estate which is her home and car. I hope the lawyer will be able to help us with this.

I think this lawyer should be a pretty good one. He represented my ex-brother-in-law’s wife during their divorce and really cleaned out the brother-in-law. I always said that if I needed an attorney this guy is the one to go to. I hope everything turns out to our benefit.