Information needed to draft a will

1. Your full legal name.

2. Your mailing address.

3. Full name of your spouse, if any.

4. Names and ages of your children, if any.

5. Distribution scheme

a. You can distribute your property however you wish. It is easier to use fractions of your total assets (1/2 or 1/4) instead of specific dollar amounts.
b. A common scheme used by married people is to leave all of the property to the spouse. If the spouse is deceased, then all of the property goes to the children in equal shares.
c. Please provide a list of any specific items that you want to be distributed to a specific person. This type of bequest is called a specific bequest.

6. Personal Representative

The personal representative is the individual who is responsible for probating the will and distributing the property to the heirs. The personal representative can hire a lawyer to assist in performing the obligations of being a personal representative. You should designate a personal representative and an alternate personal representative. The alternate personal representative becomes the personal representative if the designated personal representative is either unable or unwilling to act.

7. Trust

If you have minor children, it is generally a good idea to create a trust for the benefit of the children. By using a trust, any property that would be distributed to a minor would instead go to a trustee, who would manage the property. The will would set forth the powers of the trustee and the purposes for which trust assets could be used.

If you are interested in a trust, you would need to provide the names of the proposed trustee and the alternate trustee. You should name one person as a trustee, not a couple or a group of people. You would need to determine at what age you would like the trust to end and the trust assets distributed to the child. While one can create a single trust for all of the children, the better approach is to set up a separate trust for each child.

8. Guardians

A guardian is appointed for a minor child who does not have a legally competent parent. A guardian is nominated in a will so the court will know who should be appointed in the event that both parents would die at or near the same time. The guardian is charged with the responsibility to raise the child. While the trustee would handle the financial issues relating the property that is contained in the trust, the guardian would handle the day-to-day living responsibilities.

If you choose to nominate a guardian, you should select a guardian and an alternate guardian. You should not name the same person to be both the guardian and the trustee. There are some serious conflicts of interest with that arrangement. You can nominate the same person to be the trustee and the alternate guardian. You can also name the same person to be the guardian and the alternate trustee.