Having a Will in place helps everybody, in particular your family members. So when you do a Will, it is really more for their benefit than for yours (because on your demise, you will already be resting in peace!).

The following are some of the advantages of having a Will (which is by no means exhaustive):-

• You get to decide which of your beneficiaries eventually get your assets, which avoids confusion and conflict. These beneficiaries can include your relatives, close friends or even charities. If you don’t leave behind a Will, your beneficiaries as well as how much they get, will be decided by the law. If you are married, your spouse may not get everything you own, or in some cases, your parents may end up getting nothing.

• You are also able to give away specific items such as items of sentimental value or family heirlooms. Again, if you don’t leave behind a Will, your assets will be distributed under the law. If your beneficiaries should fight over your assets, everything may have to be sold off and converted into money to be divided among them, including the items of sentimental value.

• There is no confusion as to who your personal representatives will be (ie, those who will take care of and manage your estate) as these people will be named clearly in your Will. Without a Will, the law will decide who will have priority to apply to manage your estate. Frequently, your family members may have an equal right to apply. However, this means that there may be potential rivalry and conflict between those having an equal right to apply, which again is really unnecessary. This can be avoided simply by having a Will and stating who should be your personal representatives.

• You may not have thought about this before, but if both you and your spouse should no longer be around today, and your children are still young, who in both you and your spouse’s opinion will be the ideal person to take care of them? Such a person could even be friends and not family members. You should think through this and say clearly in your Will who should become the guardian(s) of your children. If you do not have a Will, the courts cannot guess who you would have chosen and will have to appoint a guardian based on who it thinks will be the most appropriate. This usually means the courts end up appointing a family member or relative of the deceased person. The person appointed to be the guardian may however not have been your ideal choice of a guardian for your children.

• If you leave behind a Will, the rights and management of your estate rests with your personal representatives almost straight away upon your demise. In many cases, with the Will and the death certificate, your personal representatives will be able to claim some of your assets, such as your monies in the bank. Without a Will, the appointment of your personal representatives will take some time. Even after their appointment, they cannot manage your estate until the “letter of administration” is granted by the courts, which can take even more time.

• In doing up a Will, you can add appropriate clauses to provide for the situation where both you and your spouse pass away, or even where the entire family perishes. The law applying where both husband and wife pass away at the same time can be complicated. This becomes worse if you have children and the entire family perishes at the same time. If you have a Will, as an example, you can provide that if you and your spouse should pass away in a common accident, your estate will not go to your spouse but to some other beneficiaries. This avoids the complicated rules above. This applies equally well for singles as you may travel or go on holidays with your loved ones (whom usually will be your intended beneficiaries as well).

The list above shows clearly the advantages of having a Will and why everyone should leave a Will behind. It is a misconception that Wills are only for the rich. In fact, the less one has, the less hassle one’s estate can afford to have. Having a Will helps you to avoid that. So take time to do up your Will soon.

The first question that usually comes to mind is “Where should I keep my Will?”

Your home may not be the best place to keep your Will as it can be easily destroyed in a fire. That’s why most people do not like to keep it at home. Additionally, your trustees may not know where you have kept your Will and may also not have access to it.

You will usually not want to pass it to your trustees as your Will is a very confidential document, and you may not want the contents to be made known to others until after your death. This is also because it is common for people to change their wishes from time to time and you want to be able to make such changes freely without people querying you (whether directly or indirectly). People who already know the contents of your Will may not understand the reasons for the changes you make, which raises unnecessary issues for you.

So most people end up thinking it may be a good idea to keep their Wills in their personal safe deposit box. However, that is also not advisable as safe deposit boxes are automatically sealed on the death of the owner of the box. This results in a “chicken & egg” situation as your trustees cannot get access to your Will, which is required for your trustees to apply to the courts for the documents to empower them to open your safe deposit box! This results in unnecessary costs and delay to the administration of your estate.

Because of the above, we provide a Will Custody Service for our clients to help them safe-keep their Wills in our vault with our bank. This ensures that our clients’ Wills are kept in a safe and secure place. While the client is alive, only he shall have access to the Will, thereby ensuring his confidentiality is preserved. Upon his unfortunate demise, his trustees can get access to his Will almost immediately. Together with our help and that of our team of lawyers, his trustees can start the estate administration process quickly with minimal delay and costs.

So sign up for our Will Custody Service quickly to ensure peace of mind for your family.

If you would like to know more, please click here.