You aren’t alone in getting your estate planning documents in order. Individuals making between $40k-$80k who have a will increase from 33% in 2020 to 39% in 2021. That’s an increase of 18% in just one year. One of people’s biggest struggles is what to include in a will?
Once you’ve figured out whom you are going to leave your estate to, you aren’t done. Make sure your will has these five things.
1. Identification
Your will needs to effectively identify you, your spouse, children, and anyone else you wish to leave your estate to. The goal is to eliminate confusion or doubt.
If you have minor children, identify in your will whom you want to care for them should you pass away before they reach the age of 18. It’s also a good idea to define what you mean by children and who would qualify under this category.
2. Personal Representative
Your will should appoint a personal representative and a backup representative if the first person is unable to serve. This is the person responsible for administering your estate and taking care of final matters for you. If you’d like, you can include compensation for their services.
A personal representative can be a trusted individual, bank, or trust company. However, there are specific requirements they must meet, so not everyone can be a personal representative.
- They must be a Florida resident, or
- Regardless of residence, be a spouse, sibling, parent, child, or close relative of the decedent.
3. Method of Distribution
There is more to writing a will than saying you give someone all your assets. This language is vague and doesn’t specifically state how you want your assets to move from your estate to the heirs. This can create complications later on.
For example, there are two legal methods for distributing assets, per capita and per stirpes. If your will states that you leave your estate to your children and then your grandchildren, you need to outline how this happens. Let’s assume your one child has one grandchild and the other has four. Your children then pass away before you, so when you die, your grandchildren inherit your estate.
With the per capita method, each grandchild receives 20% of your estate because the estate is evenly divided among the five heirs. With the per stirpes method, your estate gets divided in half for your two children and then each half divided among their children. One grandchild would receive their parent’s entire 50%, and the other four grandchildren would receive a 12.5% share of the other 50%. As you can see, these two methods produce very different inheritance amounts.
4. Disinheritance
A common misconception is that you must leave potential heirs one dollar if you intend to disinherit them. However, this isn’t accurate and not correct. Once you think you have finished writing your will, think of any people you specifically intend to exclude.
Include a definitive statement that clearly states that you intend to disinherit that person. It also helps to state why you have chosen to leave them nothing.
Doing this is a more effective way of preventing someone from successfully contesting your will. Simply leaving a dollar leaves questions about a possible typing error and your true intention.
5. Signatures
To be enforceable, Florida wills must be written. Videotaped and audio wills are not recognized in Florida. You must also sign your will in the presence of two witnesses who also sign the will in front of each other and yourself. Without this signature process, your will is not enforceable in Florida.
While there’s no requirement that the witnesses be non-interested parties, it is a good idea to do this. When your witness is listed as an heir in the will, there can be an argument for undue influence or persuasion by other parties.
Prepare Your Will and Estate Documents
While there are plenty of do-it-yourself options online, preparing a will isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. You need to know what to include in a will so that yours is clear and enforceable. Working with a lawyer can make preparing your will simpler and easier as they guide you through the process and address issues that you may not have considered.
Schedule a consultation with one of our experienced attorneys today and make sure your estate planning documents are in order.
