![]() ![]() ![]() If you don’t name an executor in your will, the probate court will decide who that person will be. When you name an executor in your will, you get to decide. When you die, someone has to wrap up the details of your life-pay your final bills, manage your bank accounts, cancel your subscriptions, and work with the court to distribute your property. The guardian that the court chooses might or might not be the person you would have picked for the job. Without a named guardian, the court will need to look closely into the details of your life to figure out where to send your kids. But if your children don't have another legal parent, or if the other parent is unfit or unavailable, the court will likely approve any guardian you name. If you have young kids, a will is the right place to name a trusted person to take care of them. Your choice won’t override the legal rights of your children’s other parent. They also don’t reflect the wishes of people who are estranged from their legal relatives, who want specific items of property to go to certain people, or who want their property to go to their ‘chosen’ family. When you make a will, you decide who gets what. While these laws may sound reasonable, they can operate in unexpected ways, leaving property such as houses, cars, or land in the hands of several people at once-people who might not agree on what to do with that property. In most cases, this means all of your property will go to your spouse, parents, or children. If you have none of those, then your property will go to your siblings, your parents’ siblings, cousins, and so on. If you don’t document your wishes, state law will give your property to the people legally closest to you. While it’s true that some people can get by without making a will, that’s not most of us. You need a will if you want to: Decide who will get your property And most people just don’t know how to get it done.īut making a will is probably easier than you think. Here’s how. Others think they don’t have enough property to justify the expense of making a will. So what’s the holdup? For some, thinking about end-of-life issues is just too depressing or stressful. Most American adults don’t have a will (or any other estate planning documents) despite believing that it’s important to have them. Sound familiar? If so, you’re in good company. You know that you need a will, but you haven’t gotten around to making one. ![]()
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