Should I Create A Will?
Should I Create a Will?
It is highly advisable for individuals with substantial assets, a married status, or dependent children to create a will. A will serves as a vital legal document that clearly outlines the distribution of a person's assets upon their death, ensuring that their wishes are followed and providing peace of mind in estate planning.
When should I create a will and how?
A will becomes necessary when a person starts to accumulate large amounts of assets, gets married and/or has children. By indicating how a person would like their assets to be divided between various family members, friends, organizations and charities, etc. there can be no confusion regarding 'who will receive what'. The first decision will be who to include in a will, this will be more complex where there may be children from a previous relationship or marriage. It will be necessary to nominate an 'executor', a person nominated to ensure that the distribution of assets, as set out in the will, is fully carried out. The executor may be a friend, a lawyer, or the bank. In the case of a lawyer or the bank being named as an executor there will be fees payable to them. It is important to be very specific about who should receive what in a will. If a person wishes their car to be given to their eldest son then the will should indicate this to prevent it being liquidated and the cash being spread among the whole of the beneficiaries. In the case of there being children below adult age, a guardian should be appointed to take responsibility for them until they become 'of age'. When the will is completed it needs to be signed in the company of witnesses (usually two people, occasionally three). In the event of the will being challenged it may be necessary for the Judge to call upon the witnesses to confirm the signature.So should I create a will?
The simple answer is YES! Making a will, and updating it if necessary, will alleviate any problems for those close to a person who has died. To die without making a will (intestate) can lead to a great deal of stress being heaped upon those left behind. At a time when they are suffering a loss, they also face issues of trying to make decisions, that could have been taken so much earlier, with regard to the wishes of the deceased person.The content of a will can be very simple, just a few words or it can run to several pages in the case where there are multiple beneficiaries, large amounts of assets that may involve land, property, houses, etc. Although making a will may seem not to be something that is of a pressing nature when a person is still young, marriage, purchase of property and the arrival of children will all need to be considered as a good reason to make a will. A will can be updated during a person's life to take account of any changes to their circumstances which may include divorce, children born out of wedlock, charitable causes, etc. A will is most certainly a benefit to the people left behind when a close relative dies. It will remove any doubt as to who the beneficiaries were intended to be and allow the estate to be disbursed to the wishes of the deceased person.
