Articles Posted in Wills

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Death will come unannounced. An individual may die while asleep or from an unexpected heart attack. While we can’t always prepare for death, we can protect our loved ones from the consequences with a simple will.

People Forget

You can’t take it with you is an old saying. It is true, but you can leave a hot mess when you exit. Dying without a will leaves your loved ones in a state of limbo. Probate court appoints an administrator who reports directly to the bench. There is no executor of the will and the estate settlement will drag on for months or even years.

People forget to write wills and families pay for such negligence. There are bills to be paid such as tuition and badly needed money from an estate is not available. Moreover, there can be bitter squabbles over the estate that result in long-term family feuds. Group legal plans will draft simple wills for plan members. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services will prepare those final documents as a benefit option. Continue reading

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Legal issues are ordinarily not the courtroom dramas seen on television. Law is primarily a system of paper processing and filings. There are deadlines and evidence requirements which most people do not understand. Group legal plans promote services that help plan members deal with ordinary situations. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services offers a benefit that will address any legal issues.

It Starts with Professionals

The Countrywide network of attorneys is the primary benefits provider. The lawyers practice in our client’s communities and a meeting is simple to arrange. Group legal plan members are encouraged to ask questions. Countrywide attorneys will address issues such as consumer protection or document review and give superior guidance. People sometimes forget to ask a question in a meeting. Countrywide allows an unlimited number of telephone calls on a given subject.

Warranties are documents that people don’t always understand. Countrywide attorneys will interpret and help a person get what they are supposed to receive. If a consumer protection complaint must be filed, the Countrywide attorney will guide the plan member in preparing the evidence and the documents. This legal professional also knows what public agency to approach and help dealing with all branches of government is a Countrywide benefit option. Continue reading

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A living will sounds like a contradiction. Wills are supposed to convey the wishes of dead people so why bother with one? A living will, and the accompanying medical powers of attorney, are more important than many people can appreciate. Both safeguard the emotions of survivors and loved ones.

The Cold Reality behind Living Wills

A medical crisis is nondiscriminatory: it will strike a person regardless of race, sex, color, or creed. An automobile accident or a cardiac seizure can render a person unconscious and unable to communicate. Healthcare providers are ethically mandated to comply with a patient’s wishes. A comatose victim cannot communicate instructions and the hospitals only course of action is a life support system. Life support puts a person in vegetative limbo; living but not responsive.

The patient’s family goes through the pain of watching a loved one lying in bed with minimal recovery chances. No one knows what medical care the patient wants. Death may be months or even years away. Group legal plans must address the living will issue and Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services does that. We have a living will option in our group legal plan benefits. Continue reading

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Pre-paid legal services include creating documents. There are many forms of legal paper an individual might use and some that are essential. In fact there can be serious consequences for not having the latter. Effective group legal plans offer a variety of document drafting service.

Protecting Your Survivors

Everyone should have at least a simple will. This protects survivors of loved ones if an untimely death occurs. An estate without a will is considered intestate and the beneficiaries are at the mercy of the probate court. It could take years before the estate is finally distributed to the heirs.

Accidents or a medical crisis may leave a person comatose and living only because of life support systems. Families have the heartache of watching a victim lie in a vegetative state, with no chance of final closure. Decisions about a victim’s care could be delayed if there is no living will or medical powers of attorney. Continue reading

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The judicial system moves slowly, and probate court is perhaps the most cautious. Probate takes its time because the court concerns itself with the legitimate rights of survivorship. The most commonly used pre-paid legal services benefit of group legal plans is drafting simple wills. This is something all plan members should use.

The Real Benefit of Simple Wills

Probate moves faster when the deceased has left behind a simple will. An executor will supervise the administration of the estate. There is no need for a court-appointed administrator. Probate will be there to adjudicate the final disbursements, but its role in daily estate administration is diminished. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services has simple will writing as a group legal plan benefit.

Let the Attorney Do the Work

There are templates a person may use to write a will. However, these do not always capture the nuances of a person’s wishes. Learning what an individual wants to be included in the will requires questions to be asked and answered. Countrywide has a net of experienced lawyers who provide Countrywide services. They know how to write wills and what questions a person should answer in drafting a solid will. Continue reading

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Organizations should pay close attention to living wills and powers of attorney. These are standard pre-paid legal services offered by group legal plans and both documents are important to any employer. Each can influence the claims experience of the group health plan.

The Basic Details

Living wills center on catastrophic and major medical care. An employee might be rendered unconscious. The victim’s wishes for medical care such as whether to use life support might not be not known. A living will spells out what is to be done in the event a person is unable to communicate. Medical powers of attorney assign decision-making responsibility. The person holding the authority will make decisions based on the victim’s express wishes and make final decisions about life support systems.

The Importance

Healthcare providers may not arbitrarily turn off life support or end treatment. A victim of a massive cardiac seizure might be on life support for months before dying. The claims experience continues to increase as the insurance policies are billed by the care providers and the employees group healthcare plan must absorb sizable costs. Continue reading

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Group legal plans will advertise their ability to write wills. It is an excellent idea to have one and a last will should be on everyone’s bucket list. It isn’t. Too many people put off one until later. They believe they are too young to need one. It is a mistake to think that way and survivors pay for the error.

Time and Trouble

An excuse for not drafting a will might be state law. More states are eliminating estate taxes (by the way, you still need to report estate information to determine if you must pay other taxes). It’s only an excuse and not a real justification for ignoring something very important.

The will directs how an estate is to be managed and how assets are dispersed. No will means the probate court gets involved. It results in every estate decision requiring court approval. Delays are expensive. Survivors with large bills or college tuitions must wait months or even years for the final disbursement. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services knows how frustrating all of this is for family survivors. We provide a will writing option as a group legal plan benefit. Continue reading

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A will is something everyone needs, but not everyone drafts one properly. There are those who will write their own on a piece of paper and others who use an online template. Such methods have the potential of creating drastic consequences. Wills composed this way can leave behind a great deal of confusion and trouble for survivors.

Doing Things on the Cheap

An individual may want to avoid legal fees and use an online website to draft a will. Such templates are not as good as a pre-paid legal services benefit. These DIY wills may not contain all the right words or be updated to include new language. The average person doesn’t know all the right phrases and will make composition errors. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services wants to help people avoid serious legal accidents. We have drafting wills as a group legal plan option.

Professionals Draft Simple Wills

Countrywide allows for wills of up to six pages to be written. We believe that is enough for the average group legal plan member. Our nationwide network of attorneys has considerable experience in drafting wills. They write a document which will have no issues with probate court. Continue reading

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Employees will be sitting down with their financial advisors in the coming weeks to look at money affairs. It is a time when some serious financial decisions are going to be made, which will affect the clients saving and spending in the future. Something that every financial professional is going to recommend to his or her clients is the importance of a will. It is a cornerstone of sensible money management.

Keeping Things in Order

A will is a legal document that prevents estate chaos. Beneficiaries and loved ones will receive what the will specifies, and an executor will be tasked with making all disbursements and presenting required reports to tax officials. Those who die without a will leave behind considerable legal trouble.

The lack of a last will means that probate court takes charge. A court-appointed administrator assumes the management of the estate, but this person has limited authority. He or she must report back to the court on various decisions and this can delay disbursement. This is going to harm beneficiaries. Group legal plans will draft last wills and testaments. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services does this and adds a little bit more. Continue reading

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Death and taxes are the only things you can be sure of in this life. Employees will sometimes ignore the possibility of death and forget about writing a will. We admit dying is a morbid subject, but it cannot be ignored. Your family’s security depends on a will.

Group legal plans will promote right simple wills and Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services is no exception. Drafting a simple will is one of our group legal plan options and a very popular one. Continue reading