10 Reasons Why You Should Have A Last Will And Testament

Nobody wants to think about their will. It’s morbid and scary to have to face our own mortality. It is, though, an important fact of life. How you deal with it now can have a huge impact on the legacy you leave behind. It’s extremely important to address your legal will now, before the unthinkable happens, for so many reasons. Here are ten of them:

1. It ensures your own wishes are carried out

If you have important assets that you want to go to specific people, the only way to ensure that’s exactly what happens, is to have a legally binding last will and testament outlining exactly where you want everything to go.

2. Deciding where everything goes can also include your children

If you want to ensure they’re cared for by their cool and loving Aunt Judy instead of flighty Uncle Bill, you’d better make sure your wishes are known in your will. There’s even the possibility your children could end up in foster care, should you fail to arrange other care for them.

3. It keeps red tape to a minimum

It ensures that all the bureaucratic red tape your family has to navigate while they are still grieving your loss, is kept to a minimum. When someone passes without a will, all the decisions surrounding your estate must be carefully assessed and considered, and it can take a lot of time to wait for decisions, or deal with disputes. Your family will have enough grief to deal with without having to fight over your assets. Allow them time to grieve by making all of those decisions for them.

4. It ensures you get to decide what happens to your body

If you hate the idea of being buried in the ground, and would rather be cremated, the only way anyone is going to know that for sure and be able to prove it, is with your will. If you want your ashes sprinkled outside the Molson Canadian brewery (and I mean, who doesn’t?) you’d best be sure you make that clear.

5. It helps ensure your kids are looked after financially

If, in your mind, you picture your money earmarked for your children’s education, without a will, there’s a chance that money could end up in Uncle Bill’s pocket, especially since Uncle Bill is, himself, an estate lawyer. When your smart kids with oodles of potential decide they want to apply for Harvard, there isn’t going to be any money in the bank. Writing a will ensures that if something unforeseen happens to you, your kids are still going to be able to use the money you saved for their education, whether they want to go to Harvard or hamburger school.

6. It determines who your executor will be

If you want someone you trust to be the executor of your will, ensuring your wishes are carried out as you want them to be, you’re going to have to appoint one in a legal will. If you don’t, a public trustee will be appointed, and their fee can take a big chunk out of the money you leave behind.

7. It decides where your estate goes

Without a will, people who don’t have immediate kin could have all of their estate go to some long lost cousin they never knew about. It could end up in the hands of someone you don’t particularly like, too. If you’d rather see your estate go to a good cause or a friend, you’re going to need a will.

8. It can look after your partner

If you are in a common law relationship, or are unmarried to your partner but still want them to be the beneficiary of most of your estate, you’ll need to make that clear in your will. Otherwise, everything you own, including a house you may have shared with your partner for years, could end up going to someone else.

9. It ensures Fluffy goes to the right home

If you have beloved pets, as many of us do, you need a will to ensure they go to the family member, friend or pet shelter that you want them to go to, instead of ending up in a high-kill rate pound.

10. It saves time and money

A will is going to save your family money in the long run, from public trustee fees to better tax breaks, wills are far, far cheaper to carry out than going through lawyers to fight out where all your worldly belongings should go.

Do you have a last will and testament? Let us know in the comments!