25 Feb Why Have A Will?
A will ensures that upon your death your assets are distributed to the persons you want in the manner you want. Everyone should have a legal will, no matter how wealthy or healthy or apparently unwealthy or unhealthy you are.
As they say, “you can’t take it with you”. But you can certainly decide what happens to your assets when “something should happen” to you – which as you can appreciate can occur at any time (just pick up the daily newspaper and see).
Anyone who is over 18 and of sound mind should have a will and even if you have a will you should review your will from time to time particularly if your circumstances change.
Dying without a will could, in most cases, amount to a financial and emotional disaster for your estate and in particular the loved ones you leave behind.
Consider this example. If you have a spouse and children under 18, the first $100,000 of your estate goes to your spouse, and the rest of your estate is divided 50-50 between your spouse and your children whose share will then be held in trust for them by Public Trustee until they turn 18 years of age.
A very messy situation because it means that your spouse will only effectively have access to one half of your wealth with the rest of it tied up in the hands of people you do not even know who will charge your children for the benefit in commissions and expenses. The situation is much worse where the family home is the major asset of the estate because you will either need to buy your children’s “share” in the home or sell it to realise their share
What can I do about it?
A very messy situation because it means that your spouse will only effectively have access to one half of your wealth with the rest of it tied up in the hands of people you do not even know who will charge your children for the benefit in commissions and expenses.
