Common Misconception About Making Your Will :-
A will is undoubtedly one of the most important documents you can ever make. It is also a highly technical document and has some legal parameters to it. Making a will may sometimes be a grim decision as it’s kind of accepting the inevitability of one’s death. If you are someone with property and inheritance to pass on, or if you have minors under your care, it is best that you make a will and update it every five years.
Now, it is natural to be confused about the whole process of “will-making,” especially with all the misconceptions and myths floating around about the issue. Generally, a will can be of your own making, but there are certain details that need to be given special attention. Let us debunk these myths about the making of wills:
1. You Don't Need a Will If You Don't Have a Lot Of Stuff
No matter what or how much you have to your name, making a will saves your loved ones a lot of stress and bewilderment. The Will may not list a lot of inheritance, but it will act as a record of whatever you have in a collected and organized form. Your family and friends won’t have to run around trying to collect what you left behind.
Moreover, money and materialistic stuff are not the only things someone can leave behind or list in their Will, for that matter. If you have minors under your care, or a ward to take care of, or even a specially-abled person who needs provision and care, you can list in your Will how you want them to be taken care of. You can even determine who will act as their guardian in your stead. If you don’t leave a will, your property may automatically pass on to people you don’t like or to the state, which also may not be your intention.
2. Making A Will Is Too Complicated
Well, it cannot be denied that the process of will making is indeed a tedious one – it includes listing all your assets and organizing the paperwork for each one of them, which, to be honest, can take from several hours to days, depending on how extensive a property you have. However, making a will saves a lot of stress on your family after you die. A grieving family cannot be expected to scramble to keep a tab on their inheritance in the wake of the death of their beloved.
If you feel like making a will yourself is proving too difficult and cumbersome, then you should hire a reliable attorney like Landon Dunn. You may be apprehensive about sharing all your personal information with an attorney, but you must remember that every attorney is bound by the attorney-client privilege, and they cannot legally disclose your information to anyone.
3. Your Family Knows What You Want, So a Will is Unnecessary
If you decide not to leave a will, then your family does not get to decide at all about what happens to your property. The court takes over and distributes your stuff according to your state’s intestacy laws. Additionally, you can’t count on your relatives to have insight on how you’d like your estate distributed.
If you don’t leave a will, the court will take on the responsibility of distributing your property according to the law, and if your family wants to contest that, then they will be stuck in a court proceeding. These proceedings usually take a long time to end, and paying for attorney fees and court fees could cost your loved ones handsomely. Not to mention the precious time that is lost while being stuck at the court, which could have been saved had a will been created.
4. Your Family Can Just Take Your Kids If Something Happens
Again, it is not up to your family to decide where your kids go after your death. Since kids are required by law to be placed in healthy and nurturing environments, the court will conduct a thorough assessment of your immediate family who can take the kids in. This assessment can be quite invasive, even bordering on harassment. All their past history will be brought into account, and if your family even has a record of an accident from 20 years ago, that will be brought into question.
The court will place your kids into a foster home or into an orphanage if your remaining family doesn’t pass the assessment and you don’t have a spouse left either. Therefore it is important to leave a will if you have children who need to be taken care of.
Then comes the question of your kids’ money that you leave for them. If you don’t leave a will, then your kids may not even get ownership of that money. Thus, if you want to have a definitive say about who will be your kids’ guardian and what will happen to their money, you better lay it out in a will in clear specific terms.
5. Only Elderly People Need to Worry About Making a Will
This point of view is one of the top reasons why so many people die without a will. They keep postponing it until they are either old or sick. Then when they get actually sick, making a will takes a backseat. It is never too young to start making a will. Once you reach 18 years of age, you can make a will if you have a pet or belongings that you want to pass over to someone.
Even if you are not old and are middle-aged, there is no reason why you should put off making a will. Life is anything but predictable, and you never know how or where you will be tomorrow. This may sound pessimistic, but it’s actually a pragmatic decision that will save your family a lot of stress and chaos for your loved ones.
It is your responsibility to leave your affairs in order. Moreover, the Will that you may make now doesn’t have to be your final copy; you can keep updating it whenever you need to.
6. Your Debts Will Die with You
There is a very common misconception among people, which is that if they die, their debts also die, which is to say the debts are nullified. But that is far from the truth. If you owe money to people or to institutions such as banks and such, they will get back their money one way or another. The funds from your estate will be used to pay for the debts. If those funds are not enough then, some of your estates may be sold for cash to clear the debt.
If, however, you have a will, you can specify the assets which you wish to be used to pay the debtors.
7. You Don't Need to Make a Will Because You’re Married - Your Spouse Will Just Inherit Everything
Your spouse is entitled to inherit all your property after your death, but there’s a catch if you don’t leave a will, a set of laws called the intestacy laws that will come into play and determine the distribution of your property. So your intentions of letting your spouse have everything may not even be realized.
The laws of some states also state that the rest of your family is entitled to half of your property unless you specify otherwise in your Will.
8. Having Power of Attorney Means Your Attorney Will Deal with Everything Once You Die
Your Will will be executed only when you die, and a lasting power of attorney means that the attorneys will manage your affairs while you are alive, and it will stop once you die.
Lasting power of attorney legally enables your lawyers to step in and manage your affairs if you lose the mental and physical capacity to do so yourself.
9. The People You Choose as Executors Cannot Also Be Beneficiaries
The number of executors you can have for your Will can be 1 to 4, and they can also be beneficiaries. There is no such restriction that prevents an executor from benefiting from the Will. There are many instances when the will-maker appoints their spouse or sibling as the executor of their Will as only a very trustworthy person is given the responsibility. They can also be named in the Will as beneficiaries with a full legal right.
10. You Do Not Need a Lawyer to Make Your Will
While it is true that you don’t technically need a lawyer to write your Will, it is highly encouraged. They will have to very clearly and specifically mention the issue of who gets what so that nobody can misinterpret it.
You may not be familiar with the legal jargon and how it may affect the inheritance process, so always hire an attorney to get your will draft reviewed by someone who can make it perfect for you.
11. You Need to Notarize Your Will at The Courthouse for It to Be Legally Binding
Since the Will is technically a legal document, many think that notarizing your Will at the courthouse is the only way to validate it. However, that is not the case. Neither notarizing nor being present at the court is necessary to make your Will valid. However, there are some requirements. You do need to put your signature at the bottom of the document and also the signature of at least two witnesses.
Notarizing the Will makes sure the probate process goes swiftly, but the will you notarize may not be your final Will. If you need to update the Will, then you have again to go through the entire legal process of nullifying the previous Will and notarizing the new one.
Whereas, if you choose not to notarize it, you can simply store it at a safe place like a fireproof safe, for instance. Your executor must know the location, so they can locate the Will after your death and begin the probate process.
In essence, making a will is a responsible decision for your sake and for the sake of your family and loved ones. You can rest assured that your exact wishes are going to be carried out after your death. Making a will while still being in the prime of life may seem absurd and morbid to many, and rightly so. You will essentially be laying down instructions and wishes for people to follow after you die.
However, always remember that you will be departing, and your family will be the one to suffer from your decision not to make a will. Confronting your inevitable death can be frightening but leaving your affairs in order is one of the best and kindest things you can do for your family’s harmony and peace.
