I think there is a couple of things going on - people don't like to think about dying and they don't think they have much of value to warrant a trust - that's for the very wealthy families, not us normal folks.

We were so surprised to find out how much our farm is valued at compared to what we purchased it for 10 years ago - let's just say that I'm scared now that our kids are going to assist us to go before our time:)
And now we have the place in town, plus the value of the business. Then you start adding up your vehicles, any other off road type vehicles or hobby stuff, livestock, personal collections like coin or stamp etc and other valuables you have around and it comes to a substantial amount.

After we wrote everything down - and this took over a week of walking around our house, checking the safety deposit box, waking up in the night remembering something we overlooked - we were really surprised at how much we have. And we live a pretty minimalistic(sp??) lifestyle compared to everyone we know.
When we had it all down and calculated, and then figured out what would happen if we just had a will and things went through probate, that just went against every Scottish drop of blood in both our veins:)

The software makes it so easy to do too. You just plug in the answer to what it asks and when it is all finished up it looks so legal and has all the right wording in the right places.

Cindy M

Cindy,
I would still consider having an attorney look over the document you end up with from your program. Call me when you get a chance and I can refer you to the one I used to setup our wills - he is an honest guy and won't "find problems" just to run up your bill.

Gary

Cindy,
Congratulations on your trust! Brenda and I have had one in place for our family for about fifteen years now. While I agree no one wants to think about the inevitable, it will happen. I have seen many go from my work in the fire/ems field, and it is sad to here how many local citizens and friends or family have paid thousands to the government. You probablly will not have to many problems with the box version of trust documents, but proceed carefully. I used two different trust lawyers that cost more then a few thousand, but my father-in-law was a little sceptable after my two years of convincing him he needed one. He was paying anyway. It is very comforting to know that somethings will not be a burden in an already sorrowful time.