 With DAV, and I'm joined by Jason Bellin, the Assistant Director of DAV's Personal Philanthropy Programs and Blair Pippin, the Senior Partner Success Strategist at Freewill, a value partner of DAVs. Thank you both for being here today. With August being National Make a Will Month, we wanted to share with our viewers today how a will can be an opportunity for you to leave a legacy of support to veterans as well as a way for you to protect your assets and your family. Creating your will through DAV is free and easy, and we will talk about that in more detail in just a few minutes. We'll also be answering your questions at the end of our conversation. So be sure to drop them in the comments below, and if we can't get to them during this live broadcast, don't worry, we'll be there and follow up with you afterward. I do wanna start this conversation off today though, Jason, by asking, why should someone consider making a gift to DAV and their will, and how does this support veterans? Yeah, Brian, thank you so much for the question, and I think you'd highlighted it a little bit at the intro is that it's really about leaving a legacy for our nation's ill and injured veterans here at DAV, whether they're a grateful veteran that has been assisted by DAV's Programs and Services, or they're just a passionate donor that is looking to make a difference in the lives of our ill and injured veterans once they're no longer here. It can really help provide our programs and services for another century of service to veterans at no cost to the veterans, whether it is benefits counseling, transportation to and from medical appointments, or helping to find a meaningful career outside of the military. Yeah, and both you and I, we hear these stories every day about how DAV really does make a difference. We're keeping that promise. It's invaluable to our veterans that we serve, and like you said, to provide that as a free service is great, but Jason also, how can you tell us a little bit more about how someone would create their will at DAV? Yeah, absolutely. We have a online portal. It is www.freewill.com backslash DAV where somebody can log on, really answer questions about their current situation. It takes about 20 minutes, and at the conclusion of that, they have a last will and testament that's created. Yeah, it really is pretty easy by answering the questions and the information is then put out for them. And that's why we love our partnership with DAV so much. We're just so excited about it because so many DAV supporters have made use of this resource. As of today, there have been over 5,000 DAV supporters who have used this resource to make a will and testament for themselves so they can take care of their family members. Just wanted to follow up a little bit on that too, Blair. This is something that when they go on, they can create this will for free. Like you said, it takes about 20 minutes. Can you change it over time? Is this something that is set in stone? Like what does that look like for the user? Yeah, absolutely. You're able to, you create a log in. And so anytime you need to make changes over the years, you can log back in, update your will as long as you print out that will, sign it and get it notarized, whatever is legally binding in your state. The states vary on that type of thing, but we give you instructions on exactly what you need to do to execute that will. And as long as you do that, that will will supersede the earlier one. Great, great. Thank you. And just a little bit about the benefits. What are some of the benefits of creating a will? Yeah, there's certainly a tremendous amount of benefits that you'll learn by creating a will, making sure that your assets and possessions are distributed to your liking. You have the ability to name an executor that will assist in your formalizing or finalizing all of your plans once you're no longer here. And really a sense of confidence that your family is taking care of in the way that you choose to be able to do so. It really does provide a sense of relief for a lot of the donors that have taken advantage of utilizing our services here at DAV in partnership with Free Will. I agree, Jason. One of the most loving things that we can do for our family members is to have a will in place. The courts don't have to make these decisions. The family members don't have to wrestle with the court system. Also, they don't have to feel the stress of making those decisions themselves. They know exactly what you intended. And in addition, you're able, in our will flow program, you can list out any funeral instructions that you would like. So they don't have to make those decisions as well. But one of the most important things that's very, very important is if you have minor children, you're able to name a guardian for them. And you can even name a guardian for your pets so that everyone that you love is taken care of. You know, Jason, you had shared just yesterday with me a story about someone who did not have an estate plan in place and just how terrible that it's been for that family. Could you share that with us? Yeah, absolutely. It was recently at DAV's National Convention in Atlantic City, where I had a member come up and talk about estate planning and how important it was. And unfortunately, he had a sister that had passed away, owned a business and has been going through the probate process for about the last eight years because there was no will in place. And so I think that just was a meaningful story about how important this is. Sometimes it's something that you might shy away from or have a hesitancy to take the next step in finalizing those estate plans. But it is extremely beneficial for yourself, for your family and for your loved ones. And as you're starting to get some of these comments here too, one of them is where can we go? It's freewill.com slash DAV. We'll be sure to also post that in our link description at the end or in the chat comments. But is there anything else on this or is there anything else in particular that you wanna add before we do go to the comments, which we're getting quite a few in here. So I'd like to get to those soon, but I do wanna make sure that there's nothing else that you guys wanna add first. Yeah, I would love just to add that in addition, we've been talking all about wills, but in addition to wills, if you follow that link, you also have the opportunity to create a revocable living trust. So depending on your financial situation, that may be a better route for you than a will. Also, we can walk you through naming beneficiaries for assets that are not covered in your will and set up an advanced healthcare directive and financial power of attorney. So a lot of the state planning resources are all available at your fingertips. Absolutely, great points, Blair. Great, well, again, we appreciate both of you joining us today. This is August is national make a will month. And now what we're gonna do, we're gonna answer some of the questions that have been coming in from our audience. And again, if we can't get to them during the live broadcast today, we'll be sure to follow up with you just shortly after. One of them that came through is, do witnesses need to be present and signed physically if they are in the will? I would say that that does vary state by state, whether it's a witness or a notary of the public. And so the instructions provided by free will at the conclusion of creating the will will be there depending on which state you live in to be able to provide those further instructions. But anytime a change is made, more likely than not needs to be notarized in front of a notary of the public and more likely than not witness, but for state by state requirements, those specific instructions will be provided depending on what state they live in. So a lot of these may come out as a state by state, but are you able to digitally sign this or is this something that you do have to verify through a notary? Correct, no electronic signatures at this time. Okay. Some of these are pretty specific here, but one that's in general is young people, do they need a will? Does somebody who's young and healthy really need to think about doing a will now? I would say yes. If you're young, you have children, you're married, it's better to have a will than to not have one. Unfortunately, we never know what challenges might be thrown at us in life. And so to make sure that your intentions are taken care of, as well as your family being protected, it's more, it is extremely beneficial to have a will. Absolutely. We're getting another question again. We'll throw up that website again. It's www.freewill.com slash DAV. And what we'll do, again, I do see those comments saying what the website is. We'll put those into the chat as best as we can coming through on LinkedIn. And I see here, I'll make sure that we do that as well. Kind of following up with that as well. I don't have any, like somebody's asking if they don't have any significant possessions, is this something they need? I think a lot of when users log in to utilize the services at Freewill, they'll realize that they have more than they were anticipating. Whether it's the beneficiary for a retirement account, a savings account, those can be done through your financial institutions and not necessarily through a will, but you will be accumulating assets throughout your lifetime that you'll want to make sure are, your wishes are fulfilled. And so again, it's never too early to get started. 67, around 67% of Americans still pass away without some type of a state plan. And so you don't want the courts or probate determining or taking a significant period of time to be able to make sure that your wishes are fulfilled. So it's always better to have one than to not have one, and especially if you have a family. Well, the final question that I have here is being asked is, is this filed anywhere for us through the site? Or once we have the will, I guess what do we do with this will once we have it signed on our end? What's the next step? Yeah, and Blair, please feel free to chime in here, but I think printing it off, taking it to a notary, getting it signed with your witnesses, making sure that you keep a copy in a safe place. Your executor has a copy. You keep them updated if any changes are made. Those are really the best things that you can be doing once you have it all completed through freewill.com. Absolutely. What we retain is digital, and so if you need to go in and make one change, two changes, you're able to make small, and it's without starting the whole process over. But as Jason said, you wanna make sure that you have that printed, executed copy in a safe place and that your executor has one as well. Great, and once this presentation is done, we do encourage everyone, we'll leave this up on our websites, on our social media pages for you. Please be sure to share it with someone who you think may be able to benefit from this information. Again, we appreciate everyone tuning in today. If you wanna learn more about how you can create a will for free through DAV, please visit freewill.com slash DAV. This is a great way to leave a legacy to help veterans even after you pass. This is a way that you can make sure that the DAV's mission can continue into the future. It'll protect your family. It'll protect your assets. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining and folks, have a great day.