What is a will?

What is a Will?
A Will is formal document that outlines a person’s wishes for how they would like their assets and personal belongings distributed or dealt with when they die.

Every will must appoint someone as their executor. An executor is a person, or the persons that you would like to be responsible for administering your Will. This means the person or people you wish to be responsible for carrying out your wishes. Most often people appoint a family member/s to be their executor.

However, if your affairs are complex, or if you feel that there may be disharmony in the family, then you may wish to appoint a professional such as an accountant or a solicitor or both as your executor. For more information on the importance of choosing your Executors wisely and things to consider when choosing your Executor/s, click here.

Once you have considered who you wish the Executor/s of your Will to be, you will then need to identify who the beneficiaries will be. A beneficiary is a person that you wish to gift your assets to or transfer your assets to. Your Will must very clearly state what assets you wish each beneficiary to receive, or the exact amount from your estate that you wish to gift them.

Can I do a DIY Will or online/post office Will?

Many people try and opt for the cheapest option when it comes to their Will. Writing your own Will may sometimes be sufficient, however more often than not, writing your own Will is not the best option and often leads to issues once you pass away. Without obtaining proper legal advice, the structure and wording of your Will may not actually reflect your wishes as you intended. Circumstances where you have a blended family, or own businesses or companies often do not get covered clearly in DIY Will options, most of the time leading to disputes over the Will, costing your estate unnecessary legal fees.

On top of this, small errors in the Will signing or tampering of the original Will happens more often than not with many do-it-yourself Wills. The result is that most home-made Wills are often deemed as invalid by the Supreme Court of Victoria when your Executor is applying for Probate. This means that is deemed that you died without a Will, also known as dying intestate. When this happens, the law of intestacy applies, meaning the law states how and who your assets will be distributed to. This may not be how you wish for your assets to be distributed! For more information on what happens when you are deemed to have passed away without a Will or dying intestate, click here.

So whilst grabbing a Will pack from your local post office or doing a cheap online Will might save you a little bit now, it will cost your Estate more in the long run!

How can you best ensure that your Will is written correctly and valid?

Come and see the team at Wollerman Shacklock Lawyers. Our experienced team understand the importance of having a carefully prepared Will that reflects your exact wishes and minimises the risk of claims being made against your Estate once you pass. We do not just draft a Will, we go through a thorough Estate Planning Health Check with you also, which ensures that your hard earned assets will be dealt with exactly as you wish. We then also provide you with legal advice on your Will and what happens to your assets and advice for dealing with assets which may not be covered under your Will, such as superannuation funds, assets held in trusts or other business structures and properties held jointly with someone else. We take the time to ensure you understand exactly what your Will says and that it reflects your wishes and that you are confident with your Estate Plan that we have assisted you to put in place.

“That’s a lot of money for a Will” people say, but is it really?

If you consider the lifetime of your hard work that went into acquiring your assets, is spending a bit of money now to ensure that your assets go to whom you wish them to go to worth it? We believe it is. Issues with DIY or cheap online Wills only arise once you have passed away. These issues end up costing your Estate more than you could imagine, which means that your Estate gets depleted in legal fees, rather than given to your loved ones. Spending a bit of money now, safeguards your assets and protects your loved ones from disputes down the track.

If you need to make a Will or make a new Will, contact our experienced and caring team today on 03 9707 1155 or admin@wslegal.com.au.