A Will expresses your wishes regarding the disposition of your assets upon your death. There are many misconceptions or misunderstanding about Wills. The biggest misconception regards what assets are subject to the wishes expressed in the Will.
A Will only governs those assets that are in your name alone at the time of your death. This means assets that are not in joint names or assets that do not have a beneficiary listed on that account. In other words, you may think your assets are going to be divided in a certain way, but upon your death, they are divided in a different way.
Here are two common examples. You want your assets evenly divided among your three children. However 70% of your assets are in a brokerage account and only one your children is listed as the beneficiary. That child receives the entire account and remaining 30% is then split among your three children. The net result is that one child gets 70% plus 10 % and the other two each get 10%.
An estate planning professional can make sure your estate is divided according to your wishes.
A Revocable Trust is used primarily to avoid Probate. Probate is a lengthy and costly legal process. If you place your assets in a Revocable Trust probate can be avoided. The trust also has many other advantages, which we can explain to your during the initial conference.
