These situations could have been avoided if the people took a little time  and enlisted the help of a licensed attorney at e-Lawyer.com

A mother and father have two small children. Mom and dad go out on a Saturday night, and are killed in a tragic car accident.        Mom and Dad did not have a will and did not provide legal instructions naming a person to take care of their children. As a result, the State had to become involved and determine who the children should be raised by.  Because the parents did not have a will, they had no say in who will raise their children.

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A divorced father of three children died leaving a substantial estate. Since he didn’t have a will  his estate will be left to to his kids, in trust. Unfortunately, since he didn’t leave a will trustee will be the children’s guardian, who is his ex-wife. If he had made a will, he would have been able to name the person that he wanted as trustee to take care of his children’s  inheritance.

A grandmother was raising her grandchildren children because her daughter (their mother)  abandoned his children when they were young.  She raised the grandchildren and expected they would inherit her home when she died. She never signed a will, though, and the home went to her children and not to the grandchildren who needed a home.

A husband and wife never executed a will, power of attorney, or pre-need guardian designation. On the way home from work, the    husband was in a car accident and was hospitalized in a coma. Because he did not execute these important documents his wife was unable to access his bank accounts and was unable to pay the family bills. Since he didn’t execute a healthcare surrogate document, a guardianship proceeding in court was necessary for the wife to make medical decisions on his behalf.

A grown son was taking care of his aging parents in their home.  His parents always intended to leave their home to him in exchange for the care he was providing, but they never signed wills. When they died  the home was split between the grown son and his four brothers and sisters, instead of just going to the caregiving son.