An Ethical Will is your spiritual legacy, your memories, your wisdom and guidance passed on to posterity. When your heirs read your Ethical Will (either as a separate document, as a recording, or as part of your Will), they will come to know you and your thoughts. Having a message from you can be more meaningful than money.

If you had a letter that your great-grandparent wrote, would you read it? What sort of things would be most meaningful for you to know about that person? Now think of how you could write a letter about yourself, your experiences in life, your advice, and your heritage (what do you remember about your grandparents?) to leave for future generations to read, or for them to watch if you chose to make a videotape.

I take pleasure in providing this service, and the flat fee is the same for a Will or an Ethical Will. I offer this non-legal service because it flows naturally out of the legal will-writing process.

In general, without any Will, a deceased person's Spouse is entitled to everything (after paying off debts, with a homestead exemption.) However, if the Spouse's name is not on the title to real estate, vehicles or other property, then the property must go through Probate to get the Spouse's name on the title. Probate costs more than creating a deed to change the title.

For people (typically young people) who do not have a spouse and who do not have children, the assets pass to their legal parents (half to the mother, half to the father, or all to the surviving parent). When a deceased leaves children but no spouse, the law grants everything in equal shares to the deceased's natural and/or adopted children "per stirpes" - and right about there is where grandchildren, "degrees of relation," etc, complicate the explanation.

Apart from State Law legalities, when there is no Will to clearly explain a deceased's wishes, certain people seem to think of the un-bequeathed Estate as "ownerless" and they take what they want. I believe that people are less likely to steal and argue over property when there is a Will to guide them in the distribution of assets.

One last point to mention: the State of Minnesota gets the assets of a deceased resident if no legal relative comes forward to claim the assets. There are plenty of other worthy charities, from churches to schools to animal shelters which would be far more honored to receive a legacy of any size. If you have no family and want to leave your Estate to your favorite charity but you can't afford to pay much for a Will, I can offer you a discount, just ask.

An Estate Plan involves both having a Will and checking all the "paperwork" such as deeds, titles, bank accounts, life insurance and other financial assets - because many assets have, in their "paperwork," a sort-of "mini-will" that directs who gets the asset if the owner passes away. Simply writing a Will might cause confusion if the Will conflicts with the "mini-wills." An Estate Plan coordinates everything to eliminate confusion and minimize costs (such as estate taxes and probate).

Another benefit of the Estate Plan is information. Once you can "see" your assets altogether, it becomes easier to manage them to benefit yourself. How much do you need to save for your retirement plan? Should you have nursing home insurance, or disability income insurance, or more or less life insurance? I do not sell any financial products nor direct my clients to any insurance agent. I can set up the framework for you to make decisions.

The term "Living Will" has been largely replaced by the term "Health Care Directive." Having a simple Living Will that states your wishes regarding whether or not you want to be kept on artificial life support is insufficient. People are always finding new circumstances that bring the written instructions into question.

Doctors and lawyers feel safer following the orders of a real person more so than following (and therefore being responsible for) the directives of a written document, especially on matters of life and death. Therefore, it is necessary to have a Power of Attorney for Health Care. This gives one or more persons of your choosing the power to make your health care decisions when you cannot do so yourself. (Although, as long as you can communicate your wishes, you call the shots and you can modify the Health Care Directive at any time.)

My office is in Virginia as of February, 2009 at Suite #1, 108 South 5th Avenue - near the Courthouse, half a block from main street. I also work from my home in Britt. However, since planning an estate requires looking at documents of title, insurance policies, and other items, my clients and I have found it efficient to meet where these documents are located - at the client's house. Particularly if you have mobility issues, I can come to you with no travel expense if you are in Virginia or Cook or in-between.

Maybe. If you want to trust the privacy of the Internet, which IS NOT up to the standards of attorney-client confidentiality, feel free to send me a short email message at ange@sipilaw.com . Do not send any information that you must keep confidential, email is not sufficiently secure for such communications. The act of sending me an email does not make me your lawyer. My answering your email might make me your lawyer, we'll see.

I am not allowed to publicly post my fees, but if you ask (by email), I can tell you my hourly rate, I can state my flat fees for a Will, Purchase Agreement, Easement or Deed, and/or I can send my standard fee estimate for a Probate or a Divorce.

I will try to reply to your question by email within a day or two unless there is a technical problem. This service is intended for people who live in my business area (i.e. Northeastern Minnesota.)

I must say that if you are concerned about your rights in a legal matter, DON'T DELAY - get off the Internet and call an attorney to discuss it. Some claims expire if you wait too long to raise them. So don't wait.

Thank you for reading my website. Your e-mail comments are welcome.