The Great Sell Out: Real Estate And The Law

Here are two tips for those who have recently finished writing their will.

They should periodically review and update their will  

People who have written their wills should not store them away and forget about them; instead, they should periodically review and, when necessary, update them. The reason for this is that as the years pass, a person might accumulate more assets that they need to include in their will or might, for example, have more children that they need to add as beneficiaries to their will.

Conversely, some people might sell off some assets, such as a second property, that they had previously planned to bequeath to someone, in which case they might then need to remove this property from the will, and perhaps bequeath some other gift or asset to the person who was supposed to receive it. By regularly reviewing their will and making any necessary updates to it, those who have written up this legal document can reduce the chances of there being issues with their will when they pass away, which could create a complicated financial situation that their executor and family then have to deal with.

They should inform their executor and their family if they decide to store the will somewhere new

Anyone who creates this type of important legal document must store it carefully, in a place where it can't be found by just anyone, but can be accessed by them and their loved ones. If a person decides to start storing their will in a different place than where they originally decided to (for example, if they initially chose to keep it in their locked safe in their home, but then decided that they would prefer to keep it in a locked cabinet on their business premises instead), they should inform both their family members and the executor of this change.

The reason for this is that if neither their closest relatives nor the executor is made aware of the will's relocation, and the person who wrote the will then passes away, it could take a long time for the former to find this document and begin dealing with the deceased's estate. Given that, even with a valid will, the process of dividing up a person's estate after they die can be quite lengthy, this added delay could result in it taking a very long time, and could increase both the executor and the deceased's relatives' stress levels at this challenging time.

For more information on wills, contact a lawyer near you.