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Becoming a parent comes with a lot of new, sometimes uncomfortable, responsibilities - including thinking about the future.
It's not necessarily easy to sit down and talk about who will take care of your kids if something happens to you, but I have learned that planning ahead is one practical way to love your kids.
That's the main reason my husband and I recently prioritized creating a will. It's unlikely that something will happen to both of us before our sons become adults, but we want to have peace of mind in the event that it does.
Using Fabric to write our will
I'll admit, creating a will came with a bit of a learning curve. I knew it was something I should do, but I wasn't sure how to make it happen. I assumed I would have to make an appointment with an attorney (which would involve finding an attorney) or some other professional.
Instead, we decided to use Fabric, a website that helps parents create a secure future for their families through services like life insurance and wills.
We have life insurance through my husband's job, so we focused on our will with Fabric. The ability to create a will online in the comfort of my house (and, honestly, in my pajamas) was really helpful. I was especially surprised that the service was totally free. All we had to do was create an account and answer a few pretty simple questions on an online form.
We had the option to create two separate wills, but we opted to fill out the will together instead, since all of our answers would align anyway.
On top of determining guardians for our children in the event of our deaths, we also had the opportunity to make a few other important decisions.
Fabric asked what we would want done with our assets (we decided to split everything between our two kids), what we wanted to happen to our bodies if we died, and what kind of memorial or funeral service each of us preferred. It even asked us about the specific details of our funerals, including any songs we might want played at the service (nothing came to mind, but I can always update the will online later).
We also selected an executor, or someone who will be responsible for managing the details of our life insurance policy and finances and making sure everything in the will is carried out appropriately.
Ready to write your will? Fabric makes it easier »
The cool thing about Fabric is the automation aspect: We were able to send an email message to each person we included in our will (in our case, the two potential guardians and the executor) to let them know. I had had conversations with these individuals before to make sure they were up for the tasks, but it was nice to send an email reminder so everything was in writing.
"Sealing the deal," so to speak, is pretty simple - and doesn't cost a dime. We just need to print out the will and have two witnesses notarize when we sign the will (they have to be different from anyone else named in the will itself). We'll probably keep the signed will in our home safe, along with other legal documents.
Having the conversations that scare us
Of course, creating a will felt a little emotional for both of us, but Fabric seemed like the ideal balance of friendly and professional, which really made the process as simple as it could be for both me and my husband.
It was good for both of us to have important conversations we had been putting off - I hate to say it, but we usually don't talk about topics like guardians or cremation unless we're boarding an airplane to go somewhere without our kids.
An easy-to-use, free service like Fabric could help normalize something that's difficult for parents to address, so we can check that uncomfortable item off our to-do lists once and for all.
While the process of making a will online prompted some productive questions about our kids' future, in a way, it also reminded my husband and me what was important right now - that we try our best to be the parents we want to be to our kids with the time we do have.
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.
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