Whether you are rich or not, it’s important for you to have a will before you pass away. A will allows you to personally instruct who receives what after your death. You can leave a certain amount of assets to your spouse and children, extended family, friends, or even charitable organizations. However, there are still people who feel as if they have no need for a will. Let’s take a look at why you need a will, and wihen you’ll need to Find the Best Probate Lawyer for the process.
Are you married with children? Having a family is one of the best reasons to draw up a will. When you draw up your will you can personally decide how your property will be divided. For instance, if you have young children, you can designate a certain amount of money for their college education and future. If you’re a sports memorabilia collector, and you have a niece or nephew who’s a huge sports fan, you can designate your collection to them in your will. You can leave practically anything you own to your family, or any other beneficiary.
It’s important to know what can’t be designated in your will. For instance, you can’t designate who receives the money for your life insurance. Why? The beneficiary of your life insurance is included in the insurance policy, and the will has no effect on your insurance policy. If you own assets as a joint tenant, those assets can’t be transferred to a beneficiary in your will. In the case of a joint tenant your share of the property (i.e. real estate, stock, bank account, etc.) will be passed to the survivor of the joint tenant. Consult with Sanger and Sanger to find out what your will can affect.
At some point your will will need to be taken to court and subjected to the probate process. This process involves having your assets used to pay your debts before they’re given to your beneficiary. The executor of your will will need to file a petition in court in order to start the process. Find the Best Probate Lawyer to help you with this. Although the information in probates are made public, the process itself moves along rather quickly.
