Kansas and Missouri Last Wills and Testaments
Proper estate planning allows you to determine who will receive your property and in what amounts.
What happens if I die without a will?
In Kansas and Missouri, if you die without a will, your property will be distributed according to state “intestacy” laws. The intestacy law in Kansas and Missouri gives your property to your closest relatives, beginning with your spouse and children. If you have a spouse and children, generally, your estate will be split 50% to your spouse and the other 50% to be split amongst your children. There are elections and allowances that can provide for a bigger share for your surviving spouse.
If you have neither a spouse nor children, your grandchildren or your parents will get your property. This list continues with increasingly distant relatives, including siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and your spouse’s relatives. If the court exhausts this list to find that you have no living relatives by blood or marriage, the property in your estate can escheat to the State of Kansas or the State of Missouri.
What can I do with a Kansas or Missouri will?
A will, also called a “last will and testament,” allows you to dictate the following decisions:
- leave your property to people or organizations in the manner that you decide. For instance, if you want to leave 100% of your assets to your spouse if he or she survives you, you will need to execute a last will and testament that includes language that commonly states on my death everything to my spouse, if he or she survives me, otherwise everything to my children to be split in equal shares
- name a nominee to be a personal guardian to care for your minor children
- name a trusted person as your nominee to manage property you leave to minor children, and
- name a nominee to be the executor (also known as a personal representative) of your probate estate, the person who makes sure that the terms of your will are carried out.
With almost 20 years of estate planning experience and published recognition for my estate planning and probate legal acumen, I have assisted hundreds of clients prepare their last wills and testaments and, as a solo practitioner, the legal fees my clients pay for their estate planning packages are significantly lower than the legal fees charged by medium and large law firms.
It would be my honor and pleasure to assist you with your estate planning needs.
