Get that will together for peace of mind

If you’re in the Baby Boom generation — which covers the birth years 1946 through 1964 — you would be 57 at most. You’re still at least eight years away from traditional retirement age and — hopefully — decades away from dying.

So why would you want to be thinking about a will?

It’s that taking stock of where you are in life that tends to put many people off when it comes to making out a will.

“People don’t like to think about making out a will because they are thinking that they are going to die,´ said Robert J. Penny, an attorney with Wick, Campbell & Bramer in Fort Collins and president of the Northern Colorado Estate Planning Council, a nationwide organization of people who do estate planning.

To get back to the original question — why would you want to be thinking about a will — the answer is: lots of reasons.

Wills provide clarity

First, wills clear things up. A will decides not only who gets what of your possessions, but also many other matters, such as who raises your children. “Would you rather say who raises your children if you die, or do you want the state of Colorado to do it?” Penny asked.

Catherine Seigerman with the American Institute for Cancer Research estimated that in 1994, more than 70 percent of all Americans died without leaving a valid will. While that was nine years ago, Penny thinks that percentage hasn’t changed.

And while many don’t believe they have enough assets to warrant making out a will, that’s often not the case.

“You live long enough, and you start accumulating assets,´ said Jerry Sumner, an attorney with Sumner Law Office in Fort Collins. “You have more than you think you have.”

That includes property, valuables, life insurance and retirement plans. “Pretty soon, you can get up to a couple of million dollars,” Penny said.

But if you’re going to do draw up a will, don’t try to save money and do it yourself.

“I keep running into people who try and save a hundred dollars or so by making out a will themselves and the estate ends up paying thousands of dollars in litigation,” Penny said. “Everybody should have a will prepared by an attorney.”

Why? Because wills are complex matters, and there are a million things that can go awry. Baby Boomers might understand state and federal taxes, but that doesn’t mean they understand estate taxes. Penny gives what he calls a very simple example: “Let’s say the husband has a life-insurance policy of about $500,000. Let’s say his wife has the same thing. Now let’s say they have a nice car and house that adds up to $750,000 ? well, let’s say a million. Now we’re talking about $2 million of assets.

“Without estate planning, they will pay $500,000 in estate taxes to the state. That’s $500,000 that won’t go to the kids. That’s a typical Baby Boomer. A lot of it’s in life insurance, and they have two or three kids.”

Inheritance questions resolved

Another thing a will can clear up is how your minor children will inherit your assets. If you and your spouse die without a will — intestate is the term–the court will take the assets entitled to them and put them into a conservatorship. When a child or children reach the age of adulthood — 21 — they are entitled to receive the entire amount in one lump sum.

A will can establish a trust fund so your children can inherit a certain amount of money at age 21, another amount at age 25 and so on. A conservatorship can’t do that.

Brad Laue, an attorney for Brega & Winters in Greeley, said the cost of drawing up a will should run somewhere between $400 and $1,500, depending on how complicated it is.

Laue said anyone with assets or children should have a will. “Wills are hard to break in Colorado, and you don’t see much of that in court unless the issues involved are substantial,” he said.

But Laue strongly suggests that an attorney be consulted when drawing up a will.

“Hand-written wills are legal in Colorado, and some people do them,” he said. “They also get those kits over the Internet that let you do your own will, but you wouldn’t want to take out your own gall bladder, would you? It’s the same thing with trying to do a will yourself just to save yourself some attorney’s fees.”

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