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A will is an essential tool to help distribute your assets after you pass away. However, a will is not always automatically followed to follow your exact wishes that have been stated in the document. Some people write things into their wills that are later discovered to be legally impossible to carry out. If you are currently creating your own will, know that you can't do the following things.
Leave Your Assets to Pets
You may have seen in movies or on TV a story where someone left his or her belongings to pets. This is actually something you cannot legally do, since an animal cannot own property. While the pet itself can be treated as property and given to a person, you cannot legally leave money or assets to the actual pet.
What you can do is set up a trust for the pet, which can dedicate money specifically for the pet's food, pet sitters, medical bills, and other related costs of pet ownership. This can give you peace of mind that your pet's new owner will take care of your pet as you would have, because the funds will be there when they are needed.
Distribute Assets You Do Not Have Complete Ownership Of
You must be careful with how you decide to divide your own assets, especially if you are not the complete owner of them. For instance, you may have joint ownership of a home (with right of survivorship) or a shared bank account. Those assets would immediately go to the other person you share them with, and a will is not necessary for this to occur. You cannot legally give up your half of a shared asset in a will, since it must be done through other means.
If you have shared assets that you are looking to distribute a portion of, work with an estate planning attorney. These attorneys are experts in wills and trusts and can walk you through the process of setting up the proper channels to make sure this can happen.
Request Funeral Instructions
Be aware that a will is often not dealt with until after the funeral occurs. If you have specific wishes for how your funeral will be treated, you are better off letting your loved ones know in another way. You do not want to have the only instructions be in your will, only for it to be discovered after your funeral arrangements are made. Sometimes this can happen because the will is not immediately found, but the funeral must move forward.
Share18 March 2018
