If you have attended any programs on financial planning or read up on planning for your estate, you probably have heard the expression more than once that you must have a Will.\u00a0 The thought is that a Will can resolve all issues concerning distribution of your assets on your death.\u00a0 Unless all of your assets are titled in your name alone and you have no life insurance or retirement funds that name beneficiaries, a Will is a reasonable first step but only a first step.\u00a0 Why you\u00a0 need a Will in a given situation and what happens if you have none is part of an overall estate plan.\u00a0 The estate plan which includes but does not stop at a Will can be much more important.<\/p>\n
What does a Will do?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 A Will distributes assets that are in your name alone and have no beneficiary.\u00a0 It also does not cover assets that are TOD (Transfer on Death) or POD (Payable on Death). Why do you need a Will?\u00a0 You need it to distribute just those assets that do not pass in other ways.<\/p>\n
Think about this for a moment.\u00a0 If you are married, the chances are that you titled your house in joint name with your spouse.\u00a0 You also have jointly titled all or most of your bank and investment accounts. Some parents have titled assets jointly with one or more children.\u00a0 All of these dispositions go outside the Will and override any provisions you might have stated in your Will.\u00a0 The joint owner inherits everything.<\/p>\n
Similarly, if you have life insurance or an IRA, 401(k), or 403(b), the proceeds go to your beneficiaries, unless you failed to name beneficiaries and then they might go to your estate and be distributed according to your Will.<\/p>\n
Do you get the idea?<\/p>\n
Where Wills become most important is where assets are titled in an individual\u2019s name and have no beneficiary.\u00a0 Then it is especially important to have a Will and this is why.<\/p>\n
State intestacy laws decide where individually titled assets go without a Will.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 If you die without a Will and while owning assets that are not jointly titled with right of survivorship and have no beneficiary designation, then it is most likely that the state laws of the state where you are a resident, known as the intestacy laws, will decide where those assets go. \u00a0Remember, the intestacy laws apply only to assets that do not go to a joint owner or to a beneficiary.<\/p>\n
The results may not be what you expect.<\/p>\n
Here are some examples of disposition of individually titled assets with no beneficiary where there is no Will and the decedent dies as a Pennsylvania resident.<\/p>\n
Parents of minor or disabled children should also be concerned about Wills since the Will can designate Trustees to handle assets for minors and disabled beneficiaries and guardians for minor children.<\/p>\n
Without a Will it is quite possible for someone to leave everything to a relative or distant relative she never knew or from whom she has been estranged for years.\u00a0 This is a final reason for a person to take care of business before the State writes your Will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you have attended any programs on financial planning or read up on planning for your estate, you probably have heard the expression more than once that you must have a Will.\u00a0 The thought is that a Will can resolve all issues concerning distribution of your assets on your death.\u00a0 Unless all of your assets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[188],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n