by Ashley
Remember when I talked about our goals for the month of January in our quest to “become adults” in the year of 2015?
I wanted to give you a little update.
First of all….we’re already behind. Yep. One month deep into the new year and already falling behind. Sigh. But it’s not for lack of trying!!
Hubs and I went to the bank on Friday of last week (cutting it close) to try to get added to each others’ accounts and get all of our documents notarized (a will and power of attorney for each of us).
Weeelllll, the process ended up taking a full 90 minutes and still didn’t get accomplished everything we needed. At that point we had run out of time and simply had to decide to let some of the work spill over into February.
Here’s what happened…
We went to Bank of America (the first of our 2 planned stops, as we bank at two different places). First we tried to get our documents notarized. Come to find out, they do not notarize wills because there is a conflict of interest (huh? In what way??? When we die the bank is not benefiting/getting money, so why is this a rule???). But they said they’d notarize the power of attorney forms. So we go through the whole thing, doing initials and signatures on all kinds of pages. At the very end we turn it over for the notary, who looks everything over, goes to grab a co-worker, and comes back to let us know that the bank employees cannot serve as a “witness”, which is required by Arizona state law. So now the document is essentially useless, being as the witness has to actually, ahem, WITNESS the signing of the document.
Long story short, we end up getting a random patron to sign as a witness for us (after much distress, and finally telling the patron we’d give them $10 for their time and effort). So it was a huge pain in the butt, but that was finally done. Thank goodness.
The wills, not so much. Not only will we have to go to another independent notary, but we discovered that it actually requires TWO witnesses, not one. What the heck!? Why is it so difficult!?!
Additionally, I have accounts at Bank of America, so I was able to add hubs to my accounts while we were there (checking and saving), but his accounts are at Wells Fargo and since we ran out of time we weren’t even able to go there yet.
So we’re taking baby steps. Making little bits of progress. Not as much as I would have liked, but forward progress nonetheless.
I’d also planned on giving you guys a budget update today but I’m so behind at work right now that I think I’m going to have to put it off until later this week so I can devote the rest of today to playing catch-up with work stuff (fun, fun!) As a little foreshadowing of what’s to come, I’ll tell you there are some pretty big changes coming for the month of February. I feel the need to shake things up a bit as I really re-commit and start knocking my debt in the teeth! Onward!
Hope you’re having a good Monday!
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
In most states for a will to be valid it has to be signed by 2 witnesses (states very on who can be a witness/notary) and a separate notary. In the states that I practice (IL and MN) I will not let a witness be anyone who has a fiduciary responsibility or is a beneficiary under the will. The reason the bank “could” become a conflict of interest is if you overdraft an account then suddenly they are a creditor that can sue the estate for the default. I know it’s a pain, but make sure you follow it precisely. Side bar-not related to your will in any way–Many of the court room shootings (they are not very common but do happen) are not from family law or criminal law disputes, but probate (will contests, etc.).
Ugh, so frustrating when things turn out to be so complicated and time consuming. Keep it up, though–you’ll be done soon and can feel proud of yourself for having stuck it out.
Don’t worry about falling behind for you have all year to catch up. I love how you both thought out of the box to get that random witness. Talk about thinking on your feet…..awesome.
Hi Ashley,
did you call them before going there?
I had documents notarized at a UPS store and they used another employee as a witness. Call first to make sure there are enough employees on site or grab 2 friends to go with you. Didn’t cost much at all.
So this is my two cents, and you may throw them away as you please – but I am firmly opposed to big banks. Especially Bank of America. Time and time again they have been slapped on the wrist for abusing or cheating customers, or worse.
I work in finance, and the stories I hear about BOA – well they’re truly terrible.
My suggestion is to look at your smaller, more local banks and transfer your accounts over to them. You’ll find friendlier service, people who actually care about you, and accounts without all the fees and charges.
Anyway, just my two cents.