You may be surprised to learn that a will may not protect your kids in the way you would want.
Many families believe that by putting a will in place, their family, in particular their kids, are completely protected. That's not completely true. If something ever happened to you, even with a will in place, your kids and your assets will be subject to the court process known as probate.
That means your family could spend 12-16 months or more in probate, it could cost 3% or more of the entire value of your estate, and the entire process is public.
That is not to say that a will has no value.
The advantage of preparing a will, over having no plan at all, is that you get to determine who manages the money you leave for your children, how that money is managed, when they will receive it, and any protections you want to place on it.
As you can see, preparing a will rather than relying on the state's plan for you and your family provides some significant advantages. However, it is still going to be potentially time consuming and expensive for your family.
If you would like to protect your family from the court process known as probate, there are alternative estate planning tools available to you.
