For folks living in Virginia, my sister says that Virginia courts accept handwritten wills as binding.
Get up...get up, you stupid piece of... What did you do that for? What's wrong with you? Didn't you hear a word he said? All of you! You think there's someone just going to drop money on you?! Money they could use?! Well, there ain't people like that. There's just people like me.
Jayne ,'Jaynestown'
Natter 68: Bork Bork Bork
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Zenkitty - Aug 02, 2011 6:09:29 am PDT #18958 of 30001
Every now and then, I think I might actually be a little odd.
msbelle - Aug 02, 2011 6:19:16 am PDT #18959 of 30001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb
time suck: [link]
§ ita § - Aug 02, 2011 6:21:01 am PDT #18960 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Why would handwriting make a document unbinding?
Zenkitty - Aug 02, 2011 6:33:10 am PDT #18961 of 30001
Every now and then, I think I might actually be a little odd.
It's not that handwriting makes it unbinding, it's -- eh. As I understand it (not a lawyer), some states require wills to be done formally, with a lawyer, or a notary, or a legal form. In Virginia, a handwritten will is good enough. Whether this is true in other states, I don't know; it may be. My sister told me this when she was encouraging me to write a will, which I still haven't done.
§ ita § - Aug 02, 2011 6:38:10 am PDT #18962 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
So, I don't get it. If I handwrite a will with a lawyer and a notary, shouldn't it be just fine? What's the difference with Virginia? Are you saying they don't need a lawyer and a notary?
Amy - Aug 02, 2011 6:43:05 am PDT #18963 of 30001
Because books.
It sounds like it means I could write my will, sign it and date it, and put it in a drawer until I die, and it would hold up. Which is good to know, if you live in VA, and probably not true anymore in many other places.
Sparky1 - Aug 02, 2011 6:44:50 am PDT #18964 of 30001
Librarian Warlord
Holographic wills are often not accepted because those documents don't follow any standards, like having witnesses.
Cashmere - Aug 02, 2011 6:55:03 am PDT #18965 of 30001
Now tagless for your comfort.
msbelle, we have a Knight Costume--but it is Owen-sized.
We probably need to update our wills but my twin sister and her husband are the only ones that could possibly keep our kids without making them crazy. Then all the assets go into a trust. I'm glad my sister is a lawyer because she basically told us what we need to do.
Much kitty~ma, Plei.
megan walker - Aug 02, 2011 7:04:42 am PDT #18966 of 30001
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Please, people with kids, make sure you have made arrangements for them (that do not involve direct inheritance)! And don't be afraid to think outside the box beyond relatives. Sometimes the best options are not blood ties.
Liese S. - Aug 02, 2011 7:04:51 am PDT #18967 of 30001
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."
The SO's brother put us as guardians for their two kids, but as one just turned eighteen and the other is fourteen, we're almost off the hook. My sister didn't, on the basis that we didn't already have kids so her much younger kids would join the clan her sister-in-law is raising, which I'm good with.
(eta: I foresee a lot of semicolon abuse in my future as the semicolon om my new phone is in the alt key that the comma was on my old phone. The comma now does not require an extra keypress which will be great once I figure that out.)