It’s not just enough to have a will. If you don’t want to burden your family with unexpected surprises, you need to make sure that your will stays up to date.
Again and again, we see what happens when people fail to do this.
We had one case where a man had just recently passed away. In his will, he wanted a large part of his wealth split between his three children. The problem was, one of his children had sadly died before him. So, what was going to happen to the 1/3 that they were meant to inherit?
This man also had an ex-wife who he had never formally divorced. They had been separated for over 20+ years, but because the will was not up to date reference was still made to her. She would be the one to inherit the 1/3 that his child would have otherwise gotten by reason of intestacy. He did have a will that we did not create, and sadly, it was poorly drafted, out of date and was an added expense for the estate down the track.
The two surviving children got their share of the inheritance, but the third child’s inheritance went to the ex-wife. That’s just how it worked out because of how his will was structured.
Imagine how the two surviving children felt when they learned that their siblings share of the inheritance was to go to their father’s ex-wife, all because of a problem that would have been easy to fix when he was alive.
What seems like a “hassle” today could save your family from a nightmare.
Listen, we understand that it can be a pain to keep your will up to date.
It can be easy to put off updating your will, even though it needs to be changed.
But remember, what is a tedious task for you today could save your family from a lot of pain. If you have gone through a separation or have a blended family it is especially important to make sure that your will is up to date.
What’s important to understand is that your will must reflect your life, your relationships and your assets as they are, right now. If information is out of date, you and your family may know it, but that doesn’t change the implications of your will.
Estate planning really comes back to being careful and planning ahead. Get the right advice and save your family from unnecessary problems after you pass away.
