How to Make a Will from Before and After Planning a Funeral
A Will Is a legal document that expresses what happens with your belongings when you pass away. If you die without a Will most of your belongings go to close family members but this can cause feuds with family members. Therefore, writing a Will resolves this matter so they don’t occur.
Writing up a will can be a difficult thing to write and wrap your head around because no one wants to write what happens with their possessions when you aren’t here. Sometimes if the Will has a lot of factors like money distribution, multiple properties, and cutting out family members it’s best to go with a lawyer. If not in this Blog, I’ll be talking about how to write a Will and what things to include and consider. Writing a Will can be difficult, and they require a lot of time so writing them in different parts may be easier to solve instead of writing it all at once as this can be stressful.
What To Consider When Writing a Will
1 – Telling your loved ones about your final wishes: Talking about what happens with your possessions with your loved ones can be a sensitive and distressing topic, but it’s an important topic that needs to be talked about when writing a will. This way you can distribute your assets and which family and friends they’ll go to.
You can write a will anytime because if you have kids, in the Will you can include who will look after your children when you’re not here. These can be the hardest topics to write about. If your child is u18 your inheritance will go to them and why they are 18 or get married, in the Will, you can tell them instructions to make sure they don’t spend it all at once. If you were to pass away when they were 18, most parents are uncomfortable with their child having that much money at a young age that’s why some instructions in the Will could include they are allowed to use the money once they get a house or reach a certain age. These are called “Trustee Laws” and these are put in place for their reasons.
2 – Burial and Funeral Plans: When writing a Will, you can include how you want your family to send you off like what funeral you want, the date and venue, the music, and an order of service. Talking about your funeral can be extremely hard, that’s why it’s no rush if you don’t finish writing one but if you want to include you can. This can include if you’d like your ashes placed somewhere specific or kept in your loved one’s home. Another one that can be quite unsettling is if you want to donate Organs for scientific purposes which can help to improve many lives and save people.
3 – Assets: Writing a Will the assets are very important and the distribution of where they’ll go. It’s important when stating your assets to talk about Your property, saving accounts and money in your bank, life insurance, and vehicles. Also include if your house is on Mortgage, any debts, and loans.
4 – Specific Gifts: Specific Gifts is when the Owner of the Will, will appoint specific gifts to a different family member and these are sentimental gifts that will mean a lot to the person receiving them. You can leave a remaining estate called “Residue” which means remains of certain assets. Another term is called “Specific Legacy” which is when you’ll get left with properties or money.
5- Pet Care: Many families with Pets treat them like family members. That’s why it’s no different if the owner were to die that the Pet will still be looked after and not put into a shelter. In the Will, you can specify which person you’d want to look after your pet when you’re gone. Doing this early allows the person to know beforehand in case worse comes to worst and they must look after a pet without any training with them. It’s best to do this if the pet is comfortable with the person anyway.
6 – Leaving Properties in a Will: Although I spoke about it briefly, property is one of the biggest assets involved in a Will. There are two different terms. The first one is called “Tenancy in Common” which is where each owner of the property has a share. But if one of the holders was to pass away this doesn’t mean the other shareholder will get full access to the property; it will go to family members.
The second term is called “Joint Tenancy” which is when one of the owners passes away the property will pass on to the surviving owner. This is ideal for married couples because it helps to save money and when someone passes away the other spouse will get the house without the hassle of it getting taken away.
How Much Does a Will cost?
Writing a can cost £150-£750 but depends on what the Will includes. Hiring a Solicitor can cost more. They are professionals and solicitors have protection if something was to go wrong, although solicitors can be expensive through charity schemes and local solicitors can lower the cost.