A will can remove some heavy burdens from your family by directing who should receive your property at your death. A will can also provide you and your family with peace of mind. At Nicolosi & Associates, we help people make the right decisions about these basic estate planning tools so that they achieve their goals.
A well drafted will should appoint a legal representative to carry out your final wishes. However, a will covers only ‘probate property.’ Many types of property or forms of ownership pass outside of probate, such as jointly owned property, property held in trust, life insurance proceeds, and other accounts with named beneficiaries, such as IRAs, insurance policies or 401(k) plans. A will has no power to direct where ‘non-probate property’ will go. This is important to understand during the estate planning process to make sure that you plan accordingly for all of your assets.
There are numerous benefits to having a will. First, you are able to direct where and to whom your assets will go after your death. If you died without a will, also known as intestate, your assets would be distributed according to state law.
Many people try to avoid the need for a will by holding all of their assets jointly with their family members. This can work, but people often spend unnecessary effort trying to make sure joint accounts remain equally distributed among their family members. These efforts can be defeated by a long-term illness of the parent or the death of a child. A will is a much simpler way to effectuate one’s wishes about as to how their assets should be distributed.
The second benefit of having a will is to make the administration of your estate run smoothly. Typically, the probate process will be completed more quickly and at less expense when you have executed a well drafted will which sets out how the administration should be handled. With a clear expression of your wishes, costly, time-consuming disputes over who is entitled to what assets are less likely.
Third, under a will you can choose the person you wish to administer your estate and distribute it according to your instructions. In Illinois this person is called the “personal representative.” If you do not have a will naming him or her, the court will make the choice for you. Usually the court appoints the first person to ask for the post, who is most closely related to you at the time of your death. Unfortunately, this person may not be the person that you would have selected.
Lastly, and perhaps most important, through a will you can appoint who will take your place as guardian of your minor children should both you and their other parent both pass away. Often the person you would appoint as the guardian of your children would also be in charge of handling those finances and assets which you have left to your children for their future care. This is an important decision which should be made after careful consideration.
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