WILL is a legal document that clearly defines the wishes of the testator (person writing the WILL). Basically, WILL defines what assets you want to give, to whom you want to give, when you want to give. Your assets and liabilities (if any) both will be passed on to the spouse/ next generation. Assets could be physical (like real estate/ gold), financial (like mutual funds, shares, bank FDs, etc) or digital (like mobile phones, Face Book, twitter ID, etc.
We all live in a world where buying a loan is the latest trend. Almost every asset (whether depreciating or appreciating asset) is bought on loan, not realizing who will pay in case of untimely death of earning member. Not many people are even aware that the liabilities also get passed on to the survivors. The written version of how to pass on assets and liabilities constitutes a WILL.
Drafting a WILL is a complex step because the testator needs to define his wishes clearly. He also needs to make sure that the WILL is dated and the beneficiaries and their relation with testator is clearly defines in the WILL.
What all an you WILL and what all cant you WILL is also an important topic to cover. Whatever you have earned yourself monetarily (your self acquired assets) can be WILLED.
If anybody has minor kids, they should also plan to draft a letter of guardianship. A Letter of Guardianship clearly defines the wishes of the parents when alive, to nominate somebody (within or outside the family) for accepting the custody of their minor kids In many cases, if any couple dies leaving only the minor kids as survivors, the handing over of custody of the kids erupts as an issue. Many a times, things can take an ugly shape and the kids custody can be handed over to the local orphanage. This was definitely not what the parents wanted. But in the absence of letter of guardianship and WILL, the circumstances might force the judiciary to take this harsh step.
Don’t forget to appoint a primary executor and preferably a secondary executor in your WILL. An executor is the person responsible for smooth transition of transfer of assets. Highly recommended to appoint a secondary executor in case the primary executor pre deceases the testator.
Don’t forget to get your WILL witnessed by 2 independent witnesses. There’s a common myth that the testator needs to disclose the contents of the WILL to the witness. No, not at all. The witness just witnesses the signature of the testator, not the contents of the WILL. Its strongly preferred to keep both witness and beneficiaries of your WILL as separate individuals to avoid complexities while executing the WILL.
The drafting of WILL becomes all the more important where there are kids with special needs. The parents need to be very particular about the details mentioned in the WILL if they have kids with special needs.
Losing a family member is an emotional loss for which time is the best healer. But its highly recommended that the financial loss should be mitigated/ managed while the person is alive and kicking. Its for the future financial security of the loved ones.
WILL is a legal document that clearly defines the wishes of the testator (person writing the WILL). Basically, WILL defines what assets you want to give, to whom you want to give, when you want to give. Your assets and liabilities (if any) both will be passed on to the spouse/ next generation. Assets could be physical (like real estate/ gold), financial (like mutual funds, shares, bank FDs, etc) or digital (like mobile phones, face book, twitter ID, etc.
We all live in a world where buying a loan is the latest trend. Almost every asset (whether depreciating or appreciating asset) is bought on loan, not realizing who will pay in case of untimely death of earning member. Not many people are even aware that the liabilities also get passed on to the survivors. The written version of how to pass on assets and liabilities constitutes a WILL.
Drafting a WILL is a complex step because the testator needs to define his wishes clearly. He also needs to make sure that the WILL is dated and the beneficiaries and their relation with testator is clearly defines in the WILL.
What all an you WILL and what all cant you WILL is also an important topic to cover. Whatever you have earned yourself monetarily (your self acquired assets) can be WILLED.
If anybody has minor kids, they should also plan to draft a letter of guardianship. A Letter of Guardianship clearly defines the wishes of the parents when alive, to nominate somebody (within or outside the family) for accepting the custody of their minor kids In many cases, if any couple dies leaving only the minor kids as survivors, the handing over of custody of the kids erupts as an issue. Many a times, things can take an ugly shape and the kids custody can be handed over to the local orphanage. This was definitely not what the parents wanted. But in the absence of letter of guardianship and WILL, the circumstances might force the judiciary to take this harsh step.
Dont forget to appoint a primary executor and preferably a secondary executor in your WILL. An executor is the person responsible for smooth transition of transfer of assets. Highly recommended to appoint a secondary executor in case the primary executor pre deceases the testator.
Dont forget to get your WILL witnessed by 2 independent witnesses. There’s a common myth that the testator needs to disclose the contents of the WILL to the witness. No, not at all. The witness just witnesses the signature of the testator, not the contents of the WILL. Its strongly preferred to keep both witness and beneficiaries of your WILL as separate individuals to avoid complexities while executing the WILL.
The drafting of WILL becomes all the more important where there are kids with special needs. The parents need to be very particular about the details mentioned in the WILL if they have kids with special needs.
Losing a family member is an emotional loss for which time is the best healer. But its highly recommended that the financial loss should be mitigated/ managed while the person is alive and kicking. Its for the future financial security of the loved ones. WILL is a legal document that clearly defines the wishes of the testator (person writing the WILL). Basically, WILL defines what assets you want to give, to whom you want to give, when you want to give. Your assets and liabilities (if any) both will be passed on to the spouse/ next generation. Assets could be physical (like real estate/ gold), financial (like mutual funds, shares, bank FDs, etc) or digital (like mobile phones, face book, twitter ID, etc.
We all live in a world where buying a loan is the latest trend. Almost every asset (whether depreciating or appreciating asset) is bought on loan, not realizing who will pay in case of untimely death of earning member. Not many people are even aware that the liabilities also get passed on to the survivors. The written version of how to pass on assets and liabilities constitutes a WILL.
Drafting a WILL is a complex step because the testator needs to define his wishes clearly. He also needs to make sure that the WILL is dated and the beneficiaries and their relation with testator is clearly defines in the WILL.
What all an you WILL and what all cant you WILL is also an important topic to cover. Whatever you have earned yourself monetarily (your self acquired assets) can be WILLED.
If anybody has minor kids, they should also plan to draft a letter of guardianship. A Letter of Guardianship clearly defines the wishes of the parents when alive, to nominate somebody (within or outside the family) for accepting the custody of their minor kids In many cases, if any couple dies leaving only the minor kids as survivors, the handing over of custody of the kids erupts as an issue. Many a times, things can take an ugly shape and the kids custody can be handed over to the local orphanage. This was definitely not what the parents wanted. But in the absence of letter of guardianship and WILL, the circumstances might force the judiciary to take this harsh step.
Dont forget to appoint a primary executor and preferably a secondary executor in your WILL. An executor is the person responsible for smooth transition of transfer of assets. Highly recommended to appoint a secondary executor in case the primary executor pre deceases the testator.
Dont forget to get your WILL witnessed by 2 independent witnesses. There’s a common myth that the testator needs to disclose the contents of the WILL to the witness. No, not at all. The witness just witnesses the signature of the testator, not the contents of the WILL. Its strongly preferred to keep both witness and beneficiaries of your WILL as separate individuals to avoid complexities while executing the WILL.
The drafting of WILL becomes all the more important where there are kids with special needs. The parents need to be very particular about the details mentioned in the WILL if they have kids with special needs.
Losing a family member is an emotional loss for which time is the best healer. But its highly recommended that the financial loss should be mitigated/ managed while the person is alive and kicking. Its for the future financial security of the loved ones.
The above article has been written by Sandeep Goyal. The views expressed above solely belong to the author of this article.
About Sandeep Goyal :-
I am Sandeep Goyal from Mohali. I deal with managing financial investment portfolios of my customers. My expertise lies in consulting my clients on retirement planning, child education planning & child marriage planning, all kinds of goal based financial plans, drafting of WILLS, tax return filing and taxation solutions, etc. My expertise comes from a vast 20 yrs experience in the financial services sector. I had worked in banking and life insurance sectors before starting my own portfolio management practice about 7 yrs ago. My financial knowledge is backed by professional certifications like CHARTERED FINANCIAL GOAL PLANNER (recognised by American Academy of Financial management) & an ADVANCED FINANCIAL GOAL PLANNER (recognised by American Academy of Financial management). Presently. Im also an ACCREDITED WEALTH PLANNER (recognised by Centre for Investment Education and Learning). Presently, Im pursuing CFP (Certified Financial Planner) certification (recognised by Financial Planning Board of USA) and valid in 27 countries including India. I would like to extend my services to your newspaper readers by writing regular columns based on financial investments. The idea is to create awareness among readers about various products like FD/PPF/ mutual funds/ share trading/ drafting of WILLs, taxation related issues, etc. There could be other topics also which can be covered based on the readers’ demand, if any. Sandeep goyal 98768 02666/ 93166 02666
