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CNN Live At Daybreak
'Dollars & Deals'
Aired December 26, 2003 - 06:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this is a subject far too many people avoid until it's too late -- preparing a will to protect your family assets. And as consumer guru Clark Howard tells us in this morning's Dollars and Deals segment, it's something you can do without a lawyer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARK HOWARD, CONSUMER ADVOCATE: This morning's question is from John in Wichita, Kansas. "If you want to have a will written up but you don't have a lawyer, is that really OK to do? Is it worth saving the money?"
Well, first, I need to tell you, I'm not a lawyer, so what you're about to hear from me is money advice, not legal advice.
But can you do a will yourself? Depending on your situation, the answer is you can do A-OK doing a will on your own. If you have a simple family situation, no blended families, step kids, half kids, things like that, multiple marriages involved in the current union, that kind of situation you go straight to a lawyer.
If you have lots of money -- what's lots? More than a million bucks in assets, you go to a lawyer.
For other situations, you actually can do a will on your own, if you're up to it.
My favorite place for you to start is at the Web site nolo.com. N-O-L-O.com. They have a great question and answer thing to help you decide whether or not you really should do a will yourself and what actually is required for a will to be fully legal. Plus, they will sell you a software package that's incredibly easy to use for you to prepare your own will. The software package ends up costing about 39 bucks and I've heard from others you can go buy it on eBay at a huge discount from that. So look either way.
But first start at nolo.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, good advice.
Clark Howard will be back next Friday with more Dollars and Deals. And you can e-mail us your consumer questions. Just visit our Web site at cnn.com/daybreak.
In the meantime, you can get Clark's money saving tips on the Web, address as follows, clarkhoward.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 26, 2003 - 06:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this is a subject far too many people avoid until it's too late -- preparing a will to protect your family assets. And as consumer guru Clark Howard tells us in this morning's Dollars and Deals segment, it's something you can do without a lawyer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARK HOWARD, CONSUMER ADVOCATE: This morning's question is from John in Wichita, Kansas. "If you want to have a will written up but you don't have a lawyer, is that really OK to do? Is it worth saving the money?"
Well, first, I need to tell you, I'm not a lawyer, so what you're about to hear from me is money advice, not legal advice.
But can you do a will yourself? Depending on your situation, the answer is you can do A-OK doing a will on your own. If you have a simple family situation, no blended families, step kids, half kids, things like that, multiple marriages involved in the current union, that kind of situation you go straight to a lawyer.
If you have lots of money -- what's lots? More than a million bucks in assets, you go to a lawyer.
For other situations, you actually can do a will on your own, if you're up to it.
My favorite place for you to start is at the Web site nolo.com. N-O-L-O.com. They have a great question and answer thing to help you decide whether or not you really should do a will yourself and what actually is required for a will to be fully legal. Plus, they will sell you a software package that's incredibly easy to use for you to prepare your own will. The software package ends up costing about 39 bucks and I've heard from others you can go buy it on eBay at a huge discount from that. So look either way.
But first start at nolo.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, good advice.
Clark Howard will be back next Friday with more Dollars and Deals. And you can e-mail us your consumer questions. Just visit our Web site at cnn.com/daybreak.
In the meantime, you can get Clark's money saving tips on the Web, address as follows, clarkhoward.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
