What To Consider When You Make Your Will

You can pass property to specific people in a number of ways when you die

. But if you're going to use a will to pass property on, here are some basic issues to consider.

If you're a married couple, you both have a natural claim on assets owned by either of you. So each of you should prepare a separate Will covering pretty much the same issues since it's never assured which of you will die first.

Your first consideration is to name an executor to carry out the Will as you've written it. Choose this person carefully for both his concern for your wishes and his ability to carry out his charge. And don't forget to name an alternate executor in case whomever you chose first can't do it.

Key issues to address are:

* Guardianship

* Beneficiaries

* Family Business

* Your estate obligations

Let's look at each.

1. Guardianship issue:

Designating who should take over your guardianship of your minor children is essential and critical to your children's wellbeing. Think carefully about this for all its implications.

2. Beneficiary issues:

Your beneficiaries end up with only what's left after your estate obligations are paid. Those include debts you owe and all your tax obligations. You can make specific bequests - like cash or personal property - to named persons or organizations.

Always consider an alternate choice to any specified beneficiary. As an example, in the case of a child beneficiary, specify that his share goes to his children if he dies.

If there are remaining assets to your estate after all bequests are fulfilled, you can assign this residuary estate to go to a single person, organization, or divide it accordingly. Be clear on how your assets will be divided up - in form or in value.

If you have property such as a pet or a house that requires special attention, specify just how to treat it. As an example, leave a pet to someone who's agreed to give it a good home. Perhaps, you should leave that person some money to help cover his caretaking expenses.

One asset of your estate is any debt owed to you; this is an asset of yours. In your Will you can cancel that debt in any amount you choose. That's a form of bequest to that debtor that will be appreciated.

3. Business issues:

If you own a business, decide how it should be handled - either dissolved or continued under someone else. Make arrangements on how either will be handled. Hopefully you will have discussed these options with the relevant people before your death.

4. Your estate's obligations:

Your estate's obligations are to pay the debts you owe at your death and the taxes - both federal and state estate taxes - on the value of your estate. These are generally paid before any beneficiary payouts occur. If these obligations will take a significant fraction of your estate, you may want to make some provision for paying them so your legacy to your beneficiaries is not severely limited. Life insurance and trusts can help in that regard.

You can set up separate accounts for paying these obligations or use life insurance proceeds to do so. Choose either to use the death benefit of life insurance on your life to pay your estate obligations or give it to your beneficiaries as a legacy while leaving your estate value to pay its own obligations.

by: Shane Flait

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