What to Include in Your Will: Five Things Often Neglected in Planning
When you draft a will, you’re often concerned with dividing the parts of your estate properly and making sure everyone is included. You don’t want to leave behind bad feelings, and you want to keep promises you made while alive, such as who should receive your mother’s fine china or engagement ring. Verbal contracts only go so far in families, especially when diving the estate among themselves. It is your responsibility to include what you can in a living will about wishes for your death, family business, or existing valuables. Don’t forget any of these tips when making up your living will. These are some items that are often forgotten in a will.
Funeral Instructions
If you have specific requests, you might have expressed your desires to the rest of the family, but it’s not binding unless it’s in your will. If you want to be cremated, a family member might try to bar that last request because they want a funeral. It’s important to be explicit in your instructions and put them in your will. Your attorney will be able to make sure your needs an wishes are respected long after you’ve gone.
Detailed Paperwork
It’s best to keep your will in a place where it can be found, or kept with a lawyer in the event of death. There are other papers that might be just as valuable. According to a Whitby injury lawyer from Kitchen Simeson LLP, the will should detail every paper and its location for the heirs. A safety deposit box is perfect for this, but the will should give precise instructions on where to find the key and what’s inside. Make sure you document every process of your will and include things that are sure to be important for your descendants later on. You might even consider including family histories in with your paperwork.
Accounts
With much of our life online now, there are plenty of seller accounts and financial institutions along with other money accounts that require access. If you have an Ebay account, or Amazon retailer account, these are things the rest of the family needs to know. You’ll need to detail how you’d like these accounts monitored in the future if they’re ongoing. Write down all your passwords and make sure there is a way your family can access these types of accounts later on.
Passwords
All the online institutions need passwords and they should be detailed in one place. While passwords might change frequently, they should be written down for family members. A will can detail where the passwords can be found. This way your life online can also be taken care of after you’re gone. Make a directory of common passwords and usernames a well. In case you forget to include a site, your family may be able to guess with this directory later on.
Organ Donations
Signing a donor card will guarantee your organs are donated upon your death, but not how that should happen, or which organs are allowed. Some people might only want to give a major organ like a heart or liver, but not their eyes. To make sure the family complies, the will should list your desires. At any DMV, you can find people to help list your organ donor status and wishes.
There are many other sections and instructions you might wish to include in your will as a guide for your family after you’ve gone. A lawyer can help draft up a will, but you’ll need to consider all the items you’d like to include. These items are often forgotten in today’s digital age, but if you have a little foresight, you can avoid any of these common problems.
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Category: Financial Planning
