How to Make a Will

Most of the people pass on, without making a will and their families suffer because of it. In absence of a will the assets of the deceased, including the bank accounts, are frozen. These assets are then processed by the court. The process is called the intestate succession. The court distributes the assets of the deceased by issuing a letter of administration. This process takes time and money, at a time when both the resources are very valuable for your family. Knowing how to form a will, is a sure-short way of arranging your family's assets and avoiding your family from a difficult financial position.

Making a Will

If you are a learned person who has modest assets to take care of, then you can consider writing your own will. By doing so, you can distribute the product of your blood and sweat among the family members or the persons you care for. Your act of making a proper 'will', will go in a long way to unburden your grief stricken family of financial stress, anxiety and remove the cause of unpleasant legal proceedings and related costs.

It is necessary that your will contains or documents all your assets such as immovable assets like house and land, money deposited in banks, retirement, investment accounts, stock and bonds, vehicles, valuable jewelry and antiques and any other valuable things. Prepare a list of your valuables and find out their current market price before making a will. This will give a fair idea of what kind of legacy you are leaving behind for your family.

An approximate idea about the net assets will also help you in determining, how much inheritance tax or estate tax will be levied on your assets, after your demise. The rate of tax varies from state to state and may affect the distribution of the assets in your will. You should allocate the cash which could be used by your family to pay the estate or inheritance tax. Your financial advisor may help you in identifying how to reduce the amount of taxes to be paid. You can include anyone in your will as a beneficiary. Normally a will contains friends, relatives, charity organizations and others along with the family members of the deceased.

If your children are below 18 years of age, then you must choose, a trusted person as their guardian. A friend or your spouse may prove to be a right choice for your minor children. Selecting a person as an executor of your will is also equally important. However, discuss the matter with him or her before making the will, as it is a huge responsibility for any individual to discharge.

Only you can decide whether to include a person in your will or not and how to distribute the assets. To some of the beneficiaries you can allocate a sum of money. However, it is a good idea to allocate a percentage of assets to the main beneficiaries of the will. In order to allocate valuable antiques, vehicles and jewelry etc., describe each item in detail and name the receiving beneficiary.

How to Write a Living Will?

Each individual has the right to accept or refuse medical treatment. However, there are circumstances such as coma, in which a person hovers between life and death, with the help of life support systems. In such a state, an individual is unable to express his wish of receiving uninterrupted medical treatment or stopping it. To take care of such a situation, making a living will is an option. A living will is a document that enables an individual to make the physician or the authorities aware of his or her wish regarding receiving or refraining from receiving, certain medical treatments. It is a legal document in which you can state your wishes regarding specific refusal of treatments. Such statements are called advanced decisions or advanced directives. Although, these statements are not legally binding, the medical professionals take them into account while treating a patient. You can also let the medical professionals know your wish verbally, while discussing the treatment. However, in its written form this document helps people to make their wishes clear to others.

You should take extra efforts to remove the misunderstanding, ill will or unpleasantness, among the beneficiaries by providing explanations. If you are not sure about how to write a will then, you should consider taking help of a lawyer while doing so, in order to minimize the discrepancies in it. Today's fast paced life is uncertain. You can add a shred of permanency to it by knowing exactly how write a proper will and acting on it.