There comes a time in everyone’s life when they begin to think about how they will protect their family, and share everything they worked so hard to build over their lifetime. The first major step in this process is writing a will. A will dictates how your final wishes will be carried out, and how you wish your estate to be disbursed, when the inevitable happens.
Here are four important reasons to create a will:
PEACE OF MIND:
From second marriages to stepchildren – families can be complex, and ensuring the proper disbursement of your assets to them can be quite a complicated task. By creating a will, you’ll be able to protect your wealth by detailing exactly how your property and assets should be distributed, and precisely to whom.
While your property deeds and retirement accounts may already have beneficiary designations, you also need to think about other valuables: for example, your cherished automobile, or your Grandfather’s watch collection that your son-in-law has always admired. With a will in place, you can enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing all your property and assets will be distributed in exact accordance with your wishes.
PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN:
If you have young children, or wards who are minors, one of your biggest concerns might be who will take care of them, should you pass on before they become adults. This is likely not a decision you would want to leave up to the courts! By designating a guardian and an alternate guardian in your will, you can ensure your children will be cared for by the person(s) you best saw fit.
SAVE TIME & MONEY:
Without a will and a named executor in place, the court will make all decisions on your behalf, regarding your estate. This can tie your family up in extensive court proceedings and costly legal fees. Even worse, the courts may decide to disburse your estate differently than you would have intended. Additionally, by creating a will you can carefully structure what you bequeath to loved ones and to charity, in order to reduce the amount of taxes and probate fees your beneficiaries will need to pay. Legal and financial professionals are well equipped to best guide you on how to prepare these documents accordingly.
ALLEVIATE STRESS:
The passing of a loved one is already stressful, especially if your loved ones need to interpret how to divide your estate, without the benefit of your clear instructions. This can lead to unnecessary familial in-fighting – particularly if individuals do not see eye-to-eye on decisions, or feel entitled to certain portions of the estate. Such stress can easily be avoided by putting your will in place, so your family will not be left to wonder and argue about what you would have wanted – or to make hard choices and feel divided – as you will have clearly outlined your decisions and your wishes, ahead of time.
Using the ReadyWhen platform, you will have a secure, digital location to store your will and all your Estate planning documents for life. These will be easily accessible to you, your partner, family, executor, friends, and professionals, at any time. Using ReadyWhen, (and should you decide to do so), your loved ones have an opportunity to be educated, well in advance of your passing, on your wishes, and can plan accordingly. Also by assigning an executor through the ReadyWhen Team feature, they can better understand what their role is, and also ask you any questions ahead of time, so there is no confusion in their minds, for when you pass on.
The content on the ReadyWhen Platform is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice or an opinion of any kind.