5 THINGS TOCONSIDER BEFORE

DRAFTING YOUR WILL

WWW.EASYLEGALHELP.CA

Wills are very important when looking at estate planning.

Without them, you’ve got no way to ensure that your wishes

after you are gone can be carried out how you want them.

The thing that most people don’t realize is that without asking

the right questions and having the right information for a

discussion with your lawyer you won’t get the will you want.

Nothing is worse for a family than

when a will gets contested because it’s

not made clear from the get go. There

are many horror stories of litigation

happening and tearing families apart.

Not to mention the cost of contesting a

will can be astronomical and will

sometimes outweigh the cost of what

the clients are contesting.

Here’s how you can avoid having that

happen to your family. We’ve put

together a quick list and tips of what

you need to consider before you hire a

lawyer to draft a will for you.

AssetsAn asset is anything that you own

that has value.

When you’re looking at your assets, it’s a very good idea

you to make a list of what assets you have.

That list should include money in bank accounts, if there

are multiple bank accounts, list each bank account and

the current balance as of the day of the list.

It could include; any cars, vehicles, houses, valuable

works of art, pictures, any kind of jewelry, other real

estate, wine collections, basically anything of value.

You have to know what you have and more importantly

the list is going to help whoever it is that takes care of

your matters, under your will – the executor. That

person needs to know where the assets are.

There have been many situations where people didn’t

make a list of all the bank accounts and assets they had

and it can quickly became a nightmare trying to track

down money and what’s valuable and what’s not.

There are times even where money has been lost, it

never gets claimed, it sits in a bank account for years

and years and then the bank either reclaims it or goes

into some kind of es-cheater government situation. It

just gets lost in the shuffle, so making a list of everything

you have is very important and it’s something you do

today, not later on down the road, but today.

The Executor orExecutrix

Depending on if it’s a male or female, is the

person who is going to read your will upon

your passing and make sure that your

wishes are satisfied, so it’s important to pick

the right person.

Ideally they are close to you, like yourhusband or wife. In some cases, it could

be a brother or a sister, a parent oreven a child of somebody.

It’s also important that you pick asecondary person as an executor or

executrix in case something happens tothe primary person.

When choosing an executor, it’simportant not to just pick them but sitdown with them and discuss if they are

willing to take on this role.

The last thing you want to do is pick somebody you think isvery close to you and it comes time and they are resistant to

being your executor.

An executor is an important role and they should understandwhat’s involved; looking after your will and your wishes and

they should know where your will is.

If this person doesn’t know where your will is or what lawyeryour use, then they will have a hard time making sure your

wishes are executed.

The BeneficiariesA beneficiary is someone who receive your

assets. It’s important to consider if you are

married, if you have kids, brothers and

sisters you want to help out – those are the

normal beneficiaries in a typical will.

In a typical example everything would go to your partnerand if something happens to them within so many days ofyou passing, the alternative is; everything would go to all

of my children equally.

But you have to consider who you want to benefit from allthe assets you’ve built up in your life; all the money youhave, all the property you’ve acquired, who is going to

benefit from this?

If everything is going to be divided among the kidsequally and whatever number of kids that really is, thatcan be stated in the will by your lawyer in a way that is

not going to be challenge-able.

Depending on what your wishes are, some challenges canoccur. This happens when you want to leave one child a littlemore than another child; or if you want to leave two of your

kids everything and the third child nothing.

In order to make sure that your will can’t be challenged byother children, you have to document your instructions

carefully and your lawyer should get an affidavit of somesort before the will is even written.

The will should then be worded really well, because thoseare the situations that can be easily challenged by the person

not getting any share.

Another possible scenario to consider is the spouses of yourchildren. In some instances the spouses of children can try

and make a claim to their inheritance.

Make sure you discuss with your lawyer, the proper wordingto make sure that doesn’t happen if you don’t want it to.

The Guardians

The fourth thing you should be considering

is if you have underage children (which is 18

in Canada), where you fundamentally

become their legal guardian.

It’s important to think about who you know that can takecare of your kids and raise them in the way you want them to

be raised.

You might also look at who’s going to be the guardian of theirinheritance, or you may want to restrict what they get until

they reach a certain age.

Also, think about who you can trust with their inheritancesince they aren’t old enough to handle it by themselves yet.

It very well could be 2 different people, if I’ve got my executorwho is a very organized person who I trust and will carry out

my wishes.

That person may not be the one who is going to take care ofyour children.

If you have 2 different guardians – one for your children andone for the will, you should also make sure there’s amounts

for the guardian of your children to support that child as theygrow up.

Special Gifts orRequests

The final thing that you need to consider is if

there are any special gifts or requests that

you might have; you need to specifically

state what those are.

For example, if you have a ring that was passed down by yourgrandmother and you have 3 boys and 1 girl and you want thatring to go specifically to your girl that needs to be specifically

stated in the will.

Otherwise the general clause is that all your property will goto your children equally.

That ring will probably get sold by the estate for money andthe money will be divided by the children, but if you

specifically make a statement that says that ring goes only toyour daughter, that will be taken out and given to the

daughter.

It’s important to specifically state certain gifts and requeststhat you might have and you need to think about what those

are when you’re making your list – do I want a specific personto have this?

If you have a charitable organization that’s done a lot ofsupport and work in your life and you want that charity or

organization to get a certain percentage of your assets, youmust state what that is and everything after that will go to

your children equally.

What you don’t want to do is to just walk into any lawyer’soffice and say “I want a will, just make it regular” and go sign

stuff.

What I recommend is you think about every aspect of whatyou’re doing in your will.

Have that discussion with your lawyer, make sure that lawyerdocuments that discussion in your file, so if there is some kind

of challenge later; the lawyer can produce some kind ofpaperwork or evidence of your wishes.

As for choosing a lawyer, it’s important that they practice inthe area of family law and estates, trusts and wills. Good clientreviews are something you need to consider as well. Above all,

it is important that you feel comfortable when you talk withyour lawyer.

It is important to have experience in this area and that if thereare client reviews available for these lawyers that practice in

this area for their experience with them.

Above all, it is important that you feel comfortable when youtalk with the lawyer.

Maybe you have to talk to two or three and pick the best onethat you feel most comfortable with.

Taking the time to plan things properly can ensure seamlessimplementation of your will.

The most important thing is that you feel that you can reallytrust them, because after all you won’t be there to make sure

that things get done according to your wishes.