Ask the Expert: Your will won't be confidential

I'm preparing a will. I don't have a spouse or children and want to leave money to relatives and friends. Will each of them receive a copy of my will upon my death indicating who gets what? Or does that remain confidential?

A will is never confidential. It's a public document. After your will is probated, anyone can to go Surrogate's Court in the county where you lived and take a look at it. That's why you can read all about how Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Jerry Garcia and Michael Jackson left their money.

But the only people who must be notified and given an opportunity to challenge the will before it is probated are your heirs at law. These are the family members who would have inherited your assets if you hadn't left a will. In most cases, of course, they're the very people named in your will.

If you have no will, New York law divides your assets between your surviving spouse and children, for example, so no one else would have to be notified before your will is probated. If you die unmarried and childless, your parents are your heirs at law. If you're unmarried, childless and an orphan, the heirs at law are your siblings; or, if they've predeceased you, your nephews and nieces. If you're unmarried, childless, an orphan and an only child, everything goes to your aunts and uncles, or if they're dead, to their children.

If you fear that relatives who are your heirs at law may contest a will that shuts them out in favor of your best friend, consider using a living trust instead. Nobody must be notified before trust assets are distributed to trust beneficiaries.

The bottom line: A will is a public document.

More information on these Web sites: bit.ly/bETeif and bit.ly/8WYulE