Top 10 ReasonsYou Need A Will

1) Choose How Your Estate Will Be Distributed

If you don’t decide how you want your estate distributed, the state of Texas will decide for you. It may not be at all what you want (see next slide).

2) Less Expensive Than Dying Without A Will

If you own real estate or other assets on which you cannot designate payable on death or beneficiary designations, administration of your estate without a will is many times more expensive than having a will and probating the will.

3) You Can Choose Who Administers Your Estate

If you do not specify in a will who you want as executor of the estate, you leave to chance who a court will be forced to decide is the appropriate person. State law lists persons in order of priority who are eligible for appointment. These may not be the ones you would choose.

4) You Can Choose A Guardian For Your Minor Children

If you do not specify in a will who you would want to serve as guardian of the person and of the estate of your minor children if both parents die, a long, expensive, highly emotional court battle might be required to decide this.

The guardianship remains in effect for 18 years, with yearly expense and hassle. And, when the child turns 18, the estate has to be distributed to him or her, whether mature enough or not.

5) You Can Say How And When Your Children Receive Inheritance

You can specify in your will at what age or ages and upon what conditions (staying in college, making good grades, being drug free) your children will receive inheritance. Without a will, even adult children (18 years old) receive their total inheritance all at once, condition free.

6) You Can Restrict Your Surviving Spouse’s Right To Change The Estate Plan After You’re Gone

If you die before your spouse, he or she could completely change all beneficiaries unless you have placed restrictions on the right to do so in your will.

7) You Can Provide For Stepchildren Or Grandchildren As Beneficiaries

If you die without a will, Texas law does not provide any inheritance for stepchildren or grandchildren. If you want them to receive directly from your estate, you must provide so in a will.

8) You Can Omit A Beneficiary To Prevent Their Losing Government Benefits

Sometimes, it is better to provide in your will that a beneficiary who would be entitled to inherit under intestate law (dying without a will) receives nothing. Otherwise, the inheritance might cause him or her to become disqualified from receiving significantly larger government benefits.

9) You Can Provide More For Certain Beneficiaries Than The Law Would Allow

You may wish for one beneficiary, for example a child with special needs, or a more distant relative than a child, who has provided care for you, to receive inheritance that intestate law would not allow.

10) You Can Speed Up The Process Of Estate Settlement And Avoid Litigation

A properly-drawn will provides for “independent administration”, which is much faster than traditional estate administration. You also can include a clause which disinherits any potential beneficiary who contests or challenges the will or any provision of the will.

If you would like to explore how having a will could benefit you, contact Adair M. Buckner, Attorney At Law.

(806) 220-0150adair@adairbuckner.com

Read more about estate planning & probate at adairbuckner.com/legal-blog