Why have a will?

If you die without a Will you are said to have died intestate and the division of your estate is then arbitrarily decided by law. Although fair distribution is sought, it is impersonal and rarely coincides with your wishes and the needs of your family.

Why it costs more without a Will
Generally it will cost more to administer your estate where there is no Will. The administrator must advertise and make checks that there is no Will and this tends to increase the legal bill or administrator's fee. The legal fees are also more complex and it can take longer to administer an intestate estate.

If you leave no Will your administrator has no special powers other than those provided by law to deal with your assets. This could mean enforced sales of assets which the family would rather have retained.

Everyone over the age of 18 years should have a Will.

Common mistakes with Wills
A Will should be professionally drawn up so that it is up to date and provides adequate protection for the family. There are problems in home drawn or badly drawn Wills.

The common mistakes of such Wills are that they can be invalid because of being incorrectly witnessed. There can be gaps in the disposal of your assets meaning that there are problems with the distribution of some of the assets. There have been cases where no executors have been appointed or the provisions in the badly drafted Will are too vague or general. This is the reason why Wills should be carefully drawn by an expert in the field.

Who should you appoint as your executor and trustee?
You need to have complete confidence in your executor and trustee. If you do not, then that person should not be appointed. There may be special situations where your trustee needs to have particular expertise, e.g. if you have a farm property, if you have a business, if you have overseas assets.

Typically you can have two or more executors. Generally one of them would come from the family or a close friend who is aware of the family position and personal situation. A second trustee could have particular skill and expertise in the professional area. Remember that you will no longer be around to provide the skill in running the business or dealing with the overseas assets or whatever the case may be.

What should be in your Will?
A Will requires careful planning and you may specifically need to consider matters such as cars or boats. You may need to consider the continuation of the business and whether your business partner should be given an option to buy out.

Instead of naming particular family members because of flexibility you may wish to consider having a discretionary family trust as a beneficiary. This means that planning can continue after your death and your trustees can distribute income or capital to minimise impacts of such duty as national super surcharge and income tax.

Download the Glaister Ennor Simple Will Instruction form for a single person  here, or for a couple  here.

The information on this web site is of a general nature only. Readers are advised to establish the applicability of information in relation to specific circumstances and not to rely solely on the information provided here.