Archive for August, 2009
Let”s say you are ” put out of commission “ by a serious illness or injury, or even die ?
Would a close friend or relative have sufficient knowledge of your personal matters to even begin to ensure that your affairs are kept in order ?
Most of us have a way of organizing our affairs so that important information or papers can be easily located. Yet, have you ever wondered what confusion would be created in a time of crisis if you were not around to locate what you consider every-day items ? Not many people take the time to look that far ahead.
The best method is to organize family facts and put the details in the form of a letter. This letter, which is called a Testamentary Letter, is not a WILL. This letter is of immense value for your lawyer in drafting your legal will.
Your Legal Will tells your executor/executrix how to dispose of personal property and effects. Remember, your Legal Will is seldom opened and read until some time after death.
A husband and partner should work together to cover all details in this letter. In case of common disaster, your letter must be very specific, for your lawyer to draft your legal will especially about document locations. and Guardianship of children ( if any)
Manyana….is sometimes too late ?
Celebrate that comfortable feeling by completing your Family Will this week, knowing that you have left well-written directions for your family to follow!
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Make your family feel comfortable by knowing that you have addressed the very vital task, of creating a Will, and what the game plan will be in the event you are not here to guide them. Make them aware of where your Will and other important documents are located.
By drafting a Will, an individual ensures that his or her belongings will go to the desired beneficiares. In addition, although some states or provinces may still probate/review wills for their validity, the existence of a Will can speed up the court review process considerably.
As important as it is to get your written family instructions in order, it is equally important to make these plans known to youe executor/executrix. An Executor/Executrix is a person named by a maker of a Will to carry out the directions of the Will. Typically, the executor/executrix is the person responsible for filing the Will in probate court.
Without a legal Will, the Province or State where you live, will appoint a legal guardian for your children. It is this person, and this person alone, who will have legal authority and duty to care for your minor children. By creating a Will, you will avoid this very unfortunate situation allowing you as the parent designating who shall become the children’s legal guardian in the event of death instead of the courts.
Parents with children should leave well written instructions regarding the protection of these valueable assets. Don”t grant the Courts the power to appoint guardianship over your child at a time when they are in need of special protection the most.
Writing a will isn’t hard, but it is important for everyone who has assets and especially for those who have children – even if they don’t have assets. Will specialists say that children are the most important assets that should be addressed in a will. After all, if both parents die in a common accident, who takes care of the kids? The first step in creating a will is to calculate your assets. You can do this yourself if you are worth less than $2 million, which is below the level that incurs estate taxes. Once you’ve done this, choose your heirs. You can also choose alternates if your heirs do not survive you. This is important to eliminate any fighting amongst the family after your death.
Next, select witnesses and an executor. All states require at least two people to witness the signing of your will, and they need to sign it in your presence and each other’s presence. These should be people who are not heirs outlined in your will. The last step is to put your will in a safe place. The best option is to make copies of it and store them in different locations, in case something happens to one of them. You can also go online to register the location of your will so that your family can easily find it after your death. The idea of creating a will is to have your wishes carried out after your death and to make things easier on your family and loved ones. Just follow these simple steps and your family will be very grateful.
They were your average, hard working family. They were the parents (the father aged 48, was a sales manager and the mother aged 43, an elementary school teacher) of three children: their eldest son is currently attending college: their younger son and daughter are still both in high school. Besides the usual monthly family expenses, they have a house mortgage, twwo car payments and other attendant expenses.
On the evening of May 30th, the husband did not arrive home. It was later learned that a drunk driver had slammed into his car on his way home from work and he died instantly. He left no Will and died intestate that is to say, someone who has not created a will prior to their death, He and his wife had talked several times about going to a lawyer but they were always too busy. There will now be uncertainty over the administration of the estate and how it will be dispersed.
This regrettable scenairo is unfortunately played out far too many times in our daily lives.
There is the commonly held belief by many individuals that when they die, all their accumalated assets will go directly to their next of kin,( a term used to describe a person”s closest living blood relative or relatives) even if they don”t have a Will. That is not always true!
If an individual dies without having made a valid legal Will, the probate court( and they alone) will decide how to distribute your assets. The estate can often be, but not always, distributed to the next closest group of living relatives, but if the person dies with no identifiable next of kin, the person”s estate generally legally reverts to the government.
Can you be certain that the courts would handle your assets as you would in a written will? Not likely.
Michael Jackson and the Importance of Wills
posted by A-Will-4-The-Family @ 10:54 AM
Monday, August 10, 2009
The recent sudden death of 50-year-old music legend Michael Jackson brought into the forefront the need to have a clearly defined will. Jackson had three young children and no spouse, so it was very important that he named a guardian for them in his will. He ultimately appointed his mother, Katherine Jackson, as their guardian, not the mother of the children. He also entrusted his entire estate to the Michael Jackson Family Trust, which was divided between his children and mother, and cut out his father and siblings.
No one anticipates that they will die suddenly, but if you have children or a significant estate, you should absolutely have a legal will filed so that there is no question about what should happen to everything after you die. In the case of Jackson, there are many, many people who want to have a piece of his estate, but he ensured that only his mother and children will be beneficiaries because he established a legal will. Also, Jackson did not specify where or how he wanted to be buried, but that is also something you can establish in your will. For the sake of your children and loved ones, you should write and file a legal will long before you actually need it.