Why having a will is necessary

What are the odds you don't have a will? Best guess is that 50% of people don't have one. For some folks, that may be OK, especially if they're single, have nothing and own nothing.

But if you do have kids, you need a will for the simple fact that if you don't have one, the state will decide who raises your kids. That's the reality in the absence of any written direction from you. Ditto if you're in a different circumstance, living without the benefit of marriage. In many cases, your partner will not be considered to inherit your estate unless you put it in writing.

Some people use the excuse that doing a will is too complicated and too expensive for them to undertake. I don't buy that.

It's true that if you have a complicated life -- maybe you own your own business or have a blended family -- you do need to go see a lawyer who specializes in wills, estates and trusts.

However, if you have a simple situation, I like the WillMaker software that you can pay to use through Nolo.com. They do a great job of asking interactive questions to guide you through the will completion process.

If you get confused along the way, I advise you to stop and see a lawyer. But if you want to just push through for piece of mind, it is much cheaper to have a lawyer review the will you've self-prepared than to actually prepare one for you.

Lawyers get antsy when I talk about this because they think about every disaster that's every happened when people have self-prepared a will. But the biggest disaster is not having a will at all.

So what about you? Make sure those you leave behind are well taken care of.