My goal this year was to get everything organized and in order! I have been organizing my mess and am happy to report I have finished the kitchen, pantry, and laundry room!!

Part of organizing the mess isn’t just the physical things but also financial, household, doctors appointment, etc…

Right before our Row was born my husband’s mother passed away. It was during this time of grief that we learned she had not made a will. Now until you’ve had to deal with someone close to you passing and their estate you may not have even considered the real importance of drafting a will. We learned this lesson quickly.

In the state of Texas when someone passes away without a will their entire estate becomes frozen and must go through a court system. The survivors most pay for all of this upfront and it is quite overwhelming.

We immediately decided that we indeed needed to get on this will thing and I’m sad to say have let it slide for far too long. But I’m on it!

So what should you include in a will you ask? Good question.

1. The easiest thing to do is leave each other as executors of your estate should only one of you pass. This would include all possessions and investments.

The tricky part is if you should both pass.

2. Choose a guardian for your child/children. This is a tricky one. We opted for a list. You may never know what’s happening in someones life should something happen to you. Picking more than one person gives options should the need arise.

3. This should probably be the most important thing!Pick an executor-someone who will be in charge of carrying out your will. Many people choose someone outside the family or even a lawyer to do so.

4. Designate immediate monies for your children and their immediate future-this is burn money-to cover things like clothing, healthcare, money to accommodate adding a room onto their guardians house..etc….If your guardian wants the option of them staying in your current home then money to pay for the mortgage and bills. I’ll get into life insurance in another post.

5. Set up a trust for your children in which money can be granted for things such as a car, tuition for private school and college.

6. If your children decide not to attend college when can they receive their trust?

7. Don’t forget about your pets…make accommodations for them. You may consider adding a request that pets remain with your children for comfort (something to think about).

These were just a few basics we added into our will. You can also find out depending upon which state you live in what are, if any mandated requirements to have in a will. All wills should be notarized by a third party as well. Also a copy in your fire box, with your lawyer if you have one, executor, and we’re giving them to our first party guardian.

I would love to hear of anything you added or considered adding into a will.

Oh and I almost forgot!!!! There’s this thing call POD=Pay On Death. We didn’t even know about it until my husband’s mom passed away. What it means is on any bank account you have you can designate a POD. This is whomever you wish your account to go to upon death. It’s wonderful because all monies included in each account with a POD listed immediately becomes the property of that designated person. It is never frozen or used to pay bills. You do have to physically go into the bank to add this option to each account but boy is it worth it!