Achieving the Best Possible Outcomes in Legal Cases

3 Items To Include In Your Will

by Maurice Carroll

A will dictates the rules for handling the affairs of a deceased person. Therefore, the law recognises your will and cannot disapprove its execution. However, you may miss out on valuable details that may affect the distribution of your assets or cause losses.

This piece discusses several items in wills that people constantly forget.

Second Beneficiaries

Most people forget to name a second beneficiary in their wills. A second beneficiary is a contingent individual who receives your estate in case the first beneficiary is unavailable. If the beneficiary dies or becomes too ill to receive the estate and handle the transfer, the state takes over the issue and assigns the estate according to the law.

Executing such an issue under the law might not suit your wishes. Therefore, you should consider a contingency plan after appointing a beneficiary. A secondary beneficiary is still a person of your choosing; thus, the property goes to the right people. You can engage a lawyer to ensure you do not overlook such an issue.

Pets

Have you heard about cases where people leave an inheritance to their pets? Pets provide companionship and have a soothing effect that helps you deal with anxiety, depression, and loneliness. However, most pets depend on people for shelter, healthcare, grooming and food. Therefore, you should take all measures essential to ensure your pet is in the right hands.

You can name a trustee and assign a certain amount of money to them to take care of the pet. Alternatively, you can pick one of your beneficiaries who is good with the pet to take care of it in your absence. This meticulous planning helps prevent animal cruelty cases, suffering and poor health in your pets when you die.

Digital assets

Digital assets have methods of protecting them from unauthorised usage, theft and manipulation. For example, your cryptocurrency wallet has several ways of verifying the user. Social media sites may let you assign someone to take over your account once you die, but such provisions are unavailable in other areas. Therefore, a will can assist you in designating beneficiaries of such items.

You can begin by assigning people to run your business or personal social media accounts and websites. The will should also mention all your cryptocurrency wallets and the amount each beneficiary should receive. You may also mention other items such as nonfungible tokens, logos, videos and anything else that could realise value in the future. 

Some of the main issues you should not forget to include in your will are the second beneficiaries, pets, and digital assets. 

Share