Have you considered that creating a will may be one of the best things you can do to protect yourself and your family? Let us discuss three reasons to have a will.
1. You get to decide what happens to your assets. Whether you want to leave everything to your kids or make a donation to your favorite charity, there can be no guarantee that what you want will actually happen if it is not part of your estate plan. This can be especially true if there are people you want to exclude. You can disinherit them. If you have minor children at the time of your death, in your will you can decide who will take care of your minor children, rather than letting the court decide who would be best, and you can decide who is in charge of managing your estate. These can be two important roles, and you might not want your closest living relative to be the one in charge.
2. You can avoid a lengthy probate process. Having an estate plan, whether that involves a will or a trust and a will, can significantly speed up the probate process. A will that clearly sets forth who you wish to serve as the personal representative of your estate and how you wish your assets to be distributed can greatly help streamline the process. Through estate planning, you can also decide how much you want to become part of the public record (the will becomes part of the public court record) and what you want to keep private by using a trust.
3. You can minimize estate taxes and avoid legal challenges. This might sound boring, but minimizing taxes and avoiding legal challenges means that there can be more of your estate available to pass along to your heirs.
If you are thinking about creating an estate plan, our office is here to assist. Please contact us today to schedule a meeting time.