Planning Considerations For Your Last Will

A Last Will is a great tool to ensure your wishes are followed when you have passed away. A Last Will and Testament includes your assets such as: homes, cars, and personal property such as jewelry, furniture, family heirlooms. After your death, this will be filed with the appropriate Probate Court, by your Personal Representative and will direct the court on how you wish to distribute your estate. It is important to have an attorney help you in making these decisions so that all state laws are followed and your Last Will is effective for it’s intended purposes. 

Some assets that do not need to be included in your Last Will are properties held in a trust, property that already has beneficiary designations such as a 401(k), IRA, or Life Insurance policies, and property that is jointly owned with rights of survivorship. One important step in your estate plan is to make sure all your accounts and property that has beneficiary designations is up to date. You can do this by contacting your banks, insurance companies, and managers of these accounts to update your beneficiaries. You can also contact an attorney to pull your deed to your real property to make sure that it includes survivorship language to a spouse to make sure that it does not need to be included in your Last Will and that the property is distributed exactly how you want after you pass. 

An important consideration regarding you Last Will is where it will be stored. The original document will be needed to Probate the Estate, so your named Personal Representative should know the location of the Will and be able to easily access it. In addition, fireproof safes are handy in the event of an emergency. Another important consideration is the original document must have two witnesses and be notarized for the Last Will to be effective. An attorney is specifically helpful in creating your Last Will, because they are familiar with these state specific laws and formalities and will make sure they are all followed. 

While planning for after your death can be scary, it can bring peace of mind knowing that you have a plan in place and that your loved ones and the Probate Court will know exactly how you want your assets distributed.