It is never easy to make plans for what needs to happen to your possessions after you die, but having complications with your estate is not something that you want your surviving loved ones to have to deal with. However, you may not know where to start. Consider the following tips on what to know when making a will.
Have Details of Your Assets
A last will and testament is meant to organize any assets that you have and make sure that they are taken care of in the way you see fit. Before you begin drafting your will, you will need to make a list of all of your known assets and the details of those assets. Such details might include the value of the asset, when you came into possession of the asset, and any special instructions associated with managing the asset.
Any and all details associated with an asset can be and are vital, as the person who has to take care of the asset may have no prior knowledge of how it is managed, and therefore needs as much information as possible so they can manage it correctly.
See What Liabilities Need to Be Covered
Just about everyone has debts, and if you are like most people, you have debts that you might still owe after you pass away. A lot of the time, when someone dies and still has debt, the people or entities that they owe money to might go after surviving family members to see if they can get any money out of them. While this might be the case with some forms of debt, such as a mortgage, there are a lot of things that your family is not responsible for paying off.
If you are still paying on a credit card when you pass away, your family is not responsible for paying off your remaining credit card. If you wish, you can ask them to give the companies a courtesy call, but they do not have to do so. Instruct them to ignore any bills that might come in the mail relating to any of your credit cards with balances. The same goes for medical bills.
If you owe student loans, they might go after your family, in which case you need to stipulate in your will that your family is not to be contacted about your student loan debt. This goes for anyone in your immediate family, your spouse, your children, and your extended family.
Consult a Lawyer
Since a last will and testament has to be notarized and legally binding, you might want to consult an estate planning attorney, especially if you have a lot of complicated things that need to be taken care of. The attorney will take you through things step by step and offer their expertise when it comes to making suggestions on things such as how an asset might best be handled or which one of your family members would be the best at inheriting and managing anything that you have questions about.
Make sure this attorney is someone you can trust, as once you die, it may be up to them to make sure that all of your affairs are handled and your wishes are fulfilled.
Making a last will and testament can be one of the most difficult things in the world, in many different ways. However, it is one of those necessary actions that every person should take. Keep these tips in mind when you are drafting your own will so you are able to make the process go more smoothly for yourself.
