by Mike Reiner

With all of the benefits a legal will has to offer, it is one of the best bargains available. Depending upon the complexity, wills are fairly inexpensive, particularly given the comfort of having your affairs in place in the event of your death. When you are purchasing a home, you will be around attorneys who have the ability and expertise to draft or revise a will conveniently. 

Making a will is the best way of providing for those you leave behind. While you are alive, when you make precise decisions relating to your property, you alleviate many difficult issues that might otherwise trouble your family after your death. Wills make life a little easier at a very difficult time.
If you do not make a will, you die “intestate” and your property will be distributed according to a formula, which may not be your intention. Your children, your spouse or your partner may not receive the protection you would have desired. This situation is especially critical in nontraditional and blended families. The process of finalizing your estate without a will becomes complicated, costly, and time consuming.

Please note that if you do not have a will, the government generally does not take your property; however, if you have no close relatives or people in a legal family relationship who survive you, your property may go to the state under what is known as “escheat.”

Most troubling, however, is that if both parents of your children perish, your choice of who raises them will not be known, which may cause further difficulties within your families and unneeded stress on your children.

Once you have a will, you may wonder what circumstances would require a review of your will. As a general guideline, it is appropriate to review your will upon any of the following occurrences:

• Divorce or marriage
• Property that is to be transferred under the will is purchased or sold
• You or one of your beneficiaries undergo a name change
• An executor or beneficiary dies
• You enter into a domestic relationship
• You have a child

As previously noted, wills for people in nontraditional or blended families is highly advisable. Without a will, there may be legal impediments to your domestic partner sharing in your assets if you are not legally conjoined or if there is a question about the legality of your ceremony. Moreover, if you have children from a previous relationship, you may wish to make provisions for them, or you may not wish to. Without a will, children from a previous union may be put in a difficult position of whether or not to make a claim against your estate. If they are not yet adults, their legal guardian is entitled to make this decision.

Finally, a will can set up a protected fund known as a “trust,” which is a gift of money, usually to be invested, for a particular purpose. Typically parents of minor children will wish to have a trust to set up an educational fund or to prevent a child from receiving a large amount of cash when he or she turns eighteen. A trust may also be useful for charitable giving.

The law of wills is ancient and complicated, so professional assistance is a must. Using a “will kit” is highly discouraged, for a number of reasons. Without proper drafting, you could unintentionally leave complex, complicated, and unresolved issues behind for your loved ones to resolve. Even more troubling, because of the highly technical nature of the law of wills, if it is not properly drafted or signed, the will may be viewed to be totally invalid.

Mike Reiner is an attorney and president of Reiner, Reiner and Bendett PC in Farmington, Connecticut. For more information, contact him at 860-255-5001 or by Email at MReiner@reiner.com.