It’s hard to think about life after death, but planning your will and estate is a natural part of life. In constructing your plans have you thought about what the inheritance process will be like for your beneficiaries? If you don’t have a proper plan for your estate or you don’t have a will created, the inheritance process can be extremely stressful. When you pass away, don’t leave your family with the stress of dragging out the process of their inheritance dealing with probate. With an effective will and estate plan in place, you can ease the overall inheritance procedure for your family and shorten the probate process which can be very trying at any time let alone while grieving. These simple tips can help ensure your family will receive their inheritance with as little stress throughout the process as possible.
- Think ahead and remember to update your will occasionally
Planning your will and estate is not a one-time event. It’s critical to remember to update your will and estate plan in the event of any big lifestyle changes that may impact how your assets are passed down. Keep the information in your will up to date by adding or recreating parts of your will as life changes.
In fact, there are many different factors that can impact your will including:
- If someone named in your will or the appointed executor of your will passes away.
- If you sell or donate any of your major assets before you pass.
- If you get either remarried or divorced
- If you have new children or grandchildren that need to be added to the will.
- If you have dependents that are above the age of 18.
All of these factors and more can impact your will and estate and how it’s executed. If you don’t keep this information up to date, it can slow down the probate process and affect the timeliness of your beneficiaries receiving their inheritances. It’s also very important to be as clear as possible when naming people in your will. If anything or anyone named in your will is unclear, it will again slow down the process even more.
- Liquid assets are easier and quicker to manage
Don’t forget the value of your liquid assets. When you create your will and estate plan, think about any debt you may owe at the time of your passing. For example, if you owe anything on your estate, that debt must be paid off before it can be distributed to any of your beneficiaries. If you create a will without realizing this and without enough in liquid assets to pay off the debt, it will only create more work for your executor and elongate the settlement process. If you don’t have enough liquid assets to cover those costs your executor will have to sell some of your other non-liquid assets in order to cover the cost of the debt – and this may be assets you didn’t originally plan on selling.
Also, remember to note that there are specific types of assets that don’t have to go through the probate process. These types of assets are great because your beneficiaries will have immediate access to them when you pass away. This is especially important to keep in mind when creating your will if you have a family to support. If you have dependents who rely on the money you leave behind in order to pay bills and assist in their livelihood, having these non-probate assets liquidated beforehand speeds up the timeliness of receiving their inheritance, so they can use the money right away.
- Work with someone who knows how to properly plan a will and estate.
Although DIY projects are great, your will and estate plan should not be one of them. If you want to feel secure knowing that all your assets are being passed down to the right people and the inheritance process will be easy for them, work with our experienced team at Ares Law. With our expertise, we can show you how to create an effective plan for your will and estate and ensure there are few delays in the inheritance process for your family. If it’s time you review your will or you want to create a new one give us a call at (705) 746-6444 and let’s ensure that your will and estate plan is up to date.
