WHY DO I NEED A WILL? --- FIFTY WAYS TO LOSE YOUR ASSETS

To paraphrase the old Paul Simon Song, if you do not have a Will, there may be fifty ways for you to lose your assets and your estate. It is vitally important that everyone have a minimum of a Will as security for the future, so that you will know that in the event of your death, your assets and your estate will be left to the people you wanted to it be left with. Some of the problems with not having a Will, well, there may not be fifty ways, but here are some:

1. If you should die without a Will, your property would descend by the laws of intestacy. In other words, your property would go to your relatives in the manner strictly required by Florida Statutes. Another way of putting this, means that the people getting your estate may not be the people that you really would have liked to have gotten your estate.

2. If you do not include specific gifts to charity, friends or relatives in a Will and you die without the Will, those wishes will not be honored. Your assets will go to the persons who are entitled to them pursuant to Florida Statutes.

3. If you die without a Will and your property is above the Federal Estate Tax amounts, your estate can be taxed for a very large percentage of the total value of the estate.

4. A Will is a way for you to tell your loved ones how you felt about them and how you wished your assets to be disbursed.

5. The purpose of a Will is not only the gifting of assets, but is also a chance for the person making the Will to express personal thoughts and to make personal gifts and/or bequests or to leave personal property, mementos or keepsakes to those people you really wish have them. Without a Will, the person appointed by the Court to administer your estate may not be the person you would like to so administer it, and may seek large fees and costs for acting as a Personal Representative of your estate.

6. If you wish to disown, exclude or limit a gift to anyone, they might get it if you do not have a Will. To avoid this, you must put it in a Will, or your requests and wishes will not be honored.

7. If you wish to be cremated or buried with particular religious requirements or any other personal wishes, you must state them in a Will or they will not be honored.