Teachers / educators, questions
Educator Estate Planning Program questions
The questions teachers and school staff ask most often, pension beneficiaries, small estates, classroom property, retiring soon, answered plainly.
Asked by people in your line of work.
Still not covered here? Ask the online assistant at any hour, or send a note through the contact form.
My pension already names my spouse. Do I still need a will?
Yes. The pension pays your named beneficiary or survivor option and stops there. Your home, vehicles, individually held accounts and personal property pass under your will, or under state law if you don't have one.
Is a will worth it if my estate is small?
A smaller estate has less cushion for probate delay and cost, and it is far more likely that a disagreement is over something practical rather than large. A will removes the ambiguity.
What happens to my classroom materials and personal property?
Personal property passes under your will. You can make specific gifts, instruments, books, tools, collections, so items go where you intend rather than being divided by default.
Should my spouse and I do this together?
Usually yes. Coordinated documents avoid conflicting instructions and let you name shared contingent guardians and beneficiaries.
When should I revisit the documents?
Marriage, divorce, a new child or grandchild, a home purchase, a move to another state, and retirement, especially retirement, because that is when pension survivor elections are locked in.
Do I have to go to an office to sign?
Not where remote online notarization is authorized. Florida, for example, allows remote notarization and electronic wills. In other states we tell you what execution requires.
Is an attorney involved?
An estate planning attorney wrote and maintains the templates your documents are built from. The online plan itself is self-serve; attorney review and full representation are available separately.
Built from a Florida attorney's templates, priced for a teacher's paycheck.
The attorney who wrote these templates spent a career in public safety before he practiced law, and this exists for the people who never get quoted a price they can act on. The process fits a school year.