Top Tips For Making A Will

We are all aware of their necessity and some of us will sadly have even felt the repercussions of their existence. However how many of us have written our own will? The sad truth is that while nobody likes to contemplate death, it is a reality and a certain part of life. If you own anything worth any value, sentimental or monetary and have people or causes in your life that you care greatly about; making a will should be a top priority.

A will is a legal document that details what you would like to happen to your estate in the event of your death. This can refer to property you own, any cash or savings you have, household items, vehicles, personal effects, proceeds from any life assurance policies and pensions.

Making a will isn't a representation of how much you own; you can write one without having a large estate. It's simply a way to ensure your belongings are distributed in the way you desire, once you die. Without a will, friends and families can face great difficulties, financial and emotional, over dividing up your estate themselves.

Ultimately if it is your estate, you should make the decision over what is done with it. Assuming you seek professional advice, making a will is an easy process and is not expensive to do, leaving little reason not to write one. If you don't write one, it will be left to the law. Apparently seventy percent of people in the UK die without making a will, which leads to delays, hardships and much stress as family and friends left behind battle it out in costly legal battles for items left behind. If you die without a will or if your will is deemed to be invalid (perhaps if it wasn't completed or signed correctly) then you are said to have died intestate.

Upon deciding how to divide your estate, you will have to sign and date your will, in the presence of two other witnesses if you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or if you reside in Scotland, just one witness.

An executor of your will must also be appointed, whose role will be to administer your will after your death. They will be responsible for making sure your will is dealt with how you require and therefore you must consider carefully, when making your will, who you want this to be. It can be your husband, wife, partner, family relative or even a friend. It's advisable to ask your executor if they are happy to take on the role before nominating them as it can be time consuming.

The executor will be required to look at the estate left behind by the deceased, have any valuables or property valued, arrange events and payment of the funeral, deal with any unpaid payments, establish anything entitlements from the pension, discover if any income and inheritance tax is due, complete and submit probate registry forms, call in the assets, and then finally transfer all items in the will to the correct beneficiaries. This clearly requires a great deal of work, demanding a great deal of time and given that the passing of a friend or loved one is an emotional time, it's understandable that many people chose to nominate a professional service as their executor, rather than leave all these responsibilities to someone you know.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you can make a will from the age of 18 or from the age of 12 in Scotland and should be reviewed every 5 years as family and friendships change. Once your executor has agreed to accept the responsibilities, it's important you tell them where you will be keeping the will. If it can't be found after your death, it will be written off. If you nominate a professional service, they will look after the will on your behalf.

Many people prefer to always look at the glass half full and prefer not to consider death. However making a will shouldn't be regarded as a negative experience; it's simply a way of ensuring you are prepared should the worst happen. We plan for births, so what's wrong with planning for a death too and making life a little easier for those we leave behind?

Seed Newsvine

Bookmark this article in your preferred program

Comments

Add Comment

Popular Articles in this cathegory

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.