Where There's a Will...

About most things I am very organised, but things that cause me mental pain or distress I avoid - like writing a will. Ugh, that means I have to think about and plan for my death - ugh, ugh, ugh! Not something that I am the least bit interested in considering!

But what I have come to realise is that writing a will isn't about me at all, it's about the people I love and what their lives will be like after I'm gone. It's not about making the most of my 750,000 Hours, it's about making the most of theirs.

Aside from all the scare stuff about someone having to deal with your estate if there is no will, there are some basic assumptions that we may have regarding inheritance law which are inaccurate. Your money may not go where you want it to go and to add insult to injury (after
the 40 percent tax you already paid on your money while you were alive) the government is waiting to take another 40ish percent more plus intestate fees - if you're not careful.

Now we plan on spending all our money before we're gone (and you can hear our children commenting in the background, "And we'll help!" Actually it's a lot more fun to have a burster and spend it all when you're with the ones you love!

But if something should happen along the way, it would be really nice if your money went where you intended it to. Here are some things that we've learned about wills:

- Free will storage isn't (there's something in the fine print which makes the law firm eligible for fees upon providing the will)
- Check your exec - is your executor who you think it is or has a lawyer / law firm name been added in there too?
- If there is a law firm name in there, be prepared for you loved ones to hand over 4-5 percent of the money you worked so hard for to the lawyers.
- And if there is no will, be prepared for your loved ones to hand over your hard earned money to the government while the government decides where your money is to go (and you can bet it doesn't all pass on to your family!).

If there is no will, your money may not even go where you want it to. Without a will, your money goes to next of kin, period. So if something happened to me, my next of kin would be Steve. Now that's okay because I know he will ensure that my daughter gets her share of the estate - but what if something happened to him before he could do that? Luckily I have very honest stepchildren and again think this would be taken care of in the way that we would want. If the reverse happened and Steve went first, the same rules would apply. Without a clear document stating what you want done, the government applies just one rule, next of kin - okay for regular families, but should be spelled out for blended families.

The inheritance 'pie' is small enough after the government takes its first handful, we don't need to let both the government and the lawyers have a free-for-all with our loved ones' money after we're gone. A will isn't about you, it's about the ones you love...