Not a lot of people like to think about their own death, and as a result, many of us tend to put off creating or updating our Wills. Dying without a valid Will (legal terminology: died "intestate") can cause a lot of potential issues for your loved ones, who not only have to arrange for your funeral, but they will also have to piece together your financial holdings, apply to court to be appointed as your estate trustee, and figure out what your testamentary instructions (ex. what portion of your estate goes to who, etc.) may have been.
If you do not have a Will, or have an outdated Will (ex. if your Will was created prior to marriage, children, or divorce), I challenge you to take 30 minutes this week to assess your holdings (property, bank accounts, debts, investments, etc.) and to think about how your want your estate to be divided up.
Some questions to consider:
- who do you want to name as your executor (the person who will abide by your instructions and manage your estate)?
- if you have underage child/ren, and you and your spouse die together, who will be named as their guardian?
- how will your financial holdings be divided? Is there someone that you are specifically excluding for any reason?
- if you have pets, who do you want them to live with?
- do you have specific items to give to specific people? (ex. family heirlooms)
If you are ready to take the next step and get started on creating or updating your Will, Tsang Law can help you make things as easy as possible for your loved ones by putting together a package for your executor containing your Will (with your instructions), as well as a financial summary so they do not have to look through your mountains of paperwork or e-records to see what you have, and where.