8 Comforting Benefits of Having a Will
Making a will is one of the most important steps to making
things easier for your family after your death.
A huge 52 per cent of
Australians
don't have a will when they pass. If they die without one, they leave their relatives in a legal tangle.
If you want to draft a will, you may be wondering what the benefits are to getting a will made. In addition to the legal simplicity for your relatives, there are a host of other benefits too.
In this article, we'll show you why having an experienced estate lawyer draft a will for you is one of the wisest decisions you can make.
One of the most important reasons why people need to draft a will is to guarantee that they know who's going to look after their children if they die. If you die without a will, the state will decide what happens to your children and who looks after them.
As their parent, you know who would be best able to care for your children. You don't want the court system to assign your children a guardian if you can’t be certain that person will be able to care for them properly.
Arranging a funeral and funding one is already a lot of stress for relatives, and making a personal will can help ease a little bit of the surrounding stress. Managing and distributing an estate can be a lot of work without a will, taking up a lot of time when your relatives will already be emotionally exhausted.
If you have a will, this process becomes a lot easier. You'll already have made decisions about your estate and your executor will make sure everyone respects those wishes.
Making a will yourself is easy. The problem with a will made yourself is that there could be mistakes lurking inside that can cause serious problems down the line.
There are a lot of legal requirements to make a will legally binding. If you don't follow each of these steps to the letter, the will may not hold up if there are disputes.
Drafting a will with a qualified lawyer ensures that everything is clear, binding, and free of any mistakes that may make the will invalid.
If you don't have a will, your assets won’t be allocated the way you would have liked. If you draft a will, you can enshrine certain assets as protected. For instance, if you have a home that you want your relatives to be able to live in, you can ensure that it isn't sold and used to pay fees. This means that your loved ones can carry on living in it for as long as they need to.
This gives you peace of mind, knowing that you'll still be caring for your relatives long after your death.
Are you the main breadwinner for your family? Do you know how your family would manage without your financial contributions? If you don't know how they'd manage, then you need to draft a will today.
When you make a will, you make sure that your spouse and children will be able to manage without your contributions. Depending on state laws, some people you may wish to provide for will not be included if you die without a will, so drawing up a will is crucial for this peace of mind.
Do you have a certain idea in mind for your funeral? Do you have plans for the music that you want to be played, hymns to be sung, whether you want to be cremated or buried, or what mourners should wear?
Making a will lets you specify exactly what you want to happen during your funeral and how you want your body to be treated. It also lets you set the tone for your funeral: if you'd like a more modern, laidback funeral with guests going to the pub afterwards, you can specify that. If you prefer a traditional ceremony, you can specify that. If you don't make a will, your relatives will need to assume your wishes.
If you die without a will and certain relatives and friends don't agree with how the state deals with your assets, it can lead to protracted legal disputes. This, in turn, can lead to fractured friendships and families.
If you draft a will, you won't have to worry about any of this. It's possible for a will to be disputed, but having a clearly drafted will means any disputes can be resolved much faster. This means that you don't need to worry about how relationships between your loved ones will be affected after you die.
Is there a member of your family or a friend that you would trust to carry out your wishes after your death? When you make a will, you can decide who will be your executor, rather than leaving it up to chance.
If you would rather appoint someone from outside your friends or family to act as an executor, you can do that too. You can ask your law firm for one of their solicitors to be your executor, which may help to avoid any arguments between friends and family after you're gone.
We've shown you the benefits of getting a will made. If you're ready to draft a will, then please take a look at our site. We can help make sure that your will is legally binding and followed as you wish, after your death.
If you've got any questions about us or our services, then please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We are a family owned law firm that specialises in estate law. We'd be very happy to hear from you.
Please note the content of this post is information only and not legal advice. If you require legal advice it is best to contact one of our lawyers who can review your particular circumstances and then provide tailored advice according to your needs.
We provide legal services to clients all over Queensland as well as interstate. Many of our services, such as conveyancing, will preparation, and estate management can be accessed remotely via phone, email and registered post where required.
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