10 Reasons Why You Should Have A Last Will And Testament
While most people avoid even thinking about their testament, especially from a younger age, it is beneficial to start planning your last will after you retire. The main reason for that is that you can save your family from various legal processes take could take a lot of time. Also, it is not a rare case that potential inheritors sue each other in a case that they are not satisfied with the distribution of the property. Moreover, that is the only way to leave something to the person who is not officially a part of your family, as friends, a housekeeper, or even some charity organization. Writing the last will is not a complicated process, and you can click here to learn more about the proper form. Besides the legal issues, there are also many other reasons to make a testament on time. Here are the ten most important ones.
1. Assuring That Property Will Go to Your Children
One of the most important reasons to write a last will is that you can be sure that everything you own will stay for your kids. Also, you can add some details. For example, if you have two apartments, a cottage, and a vehicle, you can determine which one of these assets will be inherited by which child. Also, you will prevent a potential conflict between them.
2. You Can Decide What Happens to Your Body
This term is mostly related to people who are religious or not. In that matter, you can request a special ceremony with a priest. On the other hand, people who are not religious in most cases demand a cremation. Moreover, it is not a rare case that the last wish also includes a special place where your family will release the ashes.
3. Determination of the Executor of the Will
The main advantage of this feature is that you can request that only a person you determine will be responsible for making all of the terms from your testament to be revealed and prosecuted. Also, you can save your family a lot of time since a regular process, without the determined executor requires an official public trustee who will deal with the distribution of your assets. However, it might get expensive to use its services.
4. You Can Add Your Partner in the Testament
In many countries, if you are not married to your partner, that person probably won’t be able to ask for anything on your property unless you add that person to your last will. On the other hand, it is not a rare case that many people choose to live their whole lives together without being officially in marriage. Therefore, be sure to include it in the testament to get sure that some distant relatives won’t have more rights on your assets than your partner.
5. It Saves a Lot of Money and Time
If you don’t write the official testament, your family might face various issues related to the legal process of inheritance. The main problem is that processes on the court carry big expenses related to court costs and lawyers. Also, the property law in many countries is a very slow procedure, and your family might need a longer time until they officially become legal owners of your property. Moreover, you will prevent any chance for disputes over which member has more rights and other issues as well.
6. You Can Add Some Unique Wishes
Besides the fact that the last will is the official statement where you can decide how to distribute your assets, you can also add some unique features to the testament. For example, you can add binding rules where you oblige your grandkids to finish college, got their kids, start working, and many other things. Also, you can add a specific year when they can start using your assets.
7. It Will Prevent Disputes
As we already mentioned, we all have heard about processes in the court where members of the family are suing each other over ownership of assets of the deceased. You can take care of that by stating how you want your stuff to be distributed. Also, you are showing that you care about your family and this document will prevent any ambiguities. Nevertheless, this will also help them to stay in good relations.
8. Financial Support of Your Children
Besides the house, vehicle, and other assets, you can also determine who will get the money from your bank account, and even add additional terms that will protect those funds from being lost on fees, taxes, and more. For instance, you can add a term where your kids can use it for college or until they reach a certain age. Moreover, there are many funding organizations where you can invest your money only to leave them to your kids at some moment.
9. Leaving Real Estate
It might be a problem when your family members cannot decide how to divide your property if you have one house. It is a common situation where one member is not interested in selling it, while the other one wants half of the money from the estimated value. That might especially be an issue if you have an unmarried partner. Your relatives can force that person to leave the house without any rights to demand compensation. Therefore, be sure to add a person that you want to inherit your house. When it comes to estate planning and probate matters, Giles & Robinson, P.A. are the experts you can trust.
10. You Can Add Terms for Your Pets
We all heard stories where people decided to leave all of their assets to their pet and add some special features where a person can use your inheritance only if they take proper care of your cat or dog. It might sound odd, but adding terms related to proper care of your pet is a great thing because it might end up on the street if your relatives are not interested in keeping animals. That is especially beneficial if your pet is old as well because there is a low chance that someone would like to adopt it, while a shelter is not a good place for animals.
