UPDATED: 9:47pm – You spend your whole life working, trying to accumulate assets for your loved ones. Over the course of your life you buy a home, vehicle, chattels, jewellery and so much more.
You have a savings account, life insurance and kiwi saver. So yes you have it all sorted, but have you ever though what will happen to all your assets when you die? Who will they go to? How will your loved ones know what your wishes were?
This is why you need a Will. Everybody needs a Will! What is a will you ask? A Will is a legal document that expresses your wishes as to how your property is to be distributed upon your death. I have come across many client who believe that the making of a Will means that they have already lost control of their assets.
This is totally incorrect! Wills have absolutely no legal affect until you pass away. In your life time you can change your Will as many times as you like without having to be accountable to either the beneficiaries (the people you are leaving your assets to) or to anybody else.
Your Will gives you the opportunity to decide exactly what happens to all your belongings when you have passed on.
So what happens if you don’t have a Will? Most people I have met believe that their partners and children will automatically get all their assets…stop and think again!
This is far from the truth. If you have assets of a total value of more than $16,000.00 then your loved ones will have to apply for letters of administration from the high court before any of your assets can be distributed.
This is a long and rather expensive affair not only that it is often the root cause of many family disputes and is the last thing your family needs when they are greying.
In a lot of cultures it customary to only leave assets to your male offspring, well if this is your intention it definitely will not be happening in New Zealand without a Will. In New Zealand the law states that all your children are to equally provided for and you can’t prefer one sex over the other. So if you die without a Will all your children will be equally entitled regardless of gender.
Just because your cultural beliefs maybe different from those of the laws of New Zealand should not mean your wishes should not be honoured. It is for this reason I urge people to make a Will. If you have your wishes properly documents then at least you have some comfort in knowing that your loved ones are clear about your final wishes.
If Wills are so important why do so few people have WIlls? The three reasons that I hear over and over again are as follows;
1)”It’s too expensive” – Seriously we are talking about a few hundred dollars to ensure your hard earned assets go to the people you wish to receive them. Having no Will is going to cost your estate a whole lot more.
2) “We don’t like to talk about death” – Well we are all going to die that is a certainty so it seems foolish to avoid discussing the inevitable. Much wiser to organise your affairs while you still can then leave your loved ones to deal with the mess when your gone.
3) “I don’t have time, I will do it later” – death waits for no man. There is no time like the present for who has seen tomorrow. Your Will is important and you need to make time.
You’re now convinced you need a Will and from what you have learnt today, your assets will go to exactly who you intended them to go if you have a Will? I have to be honest this is not entirely the whole picture. Tune in next addition to find out what happens when a Will is contested but always remember “where there’s a Will there’s a way.”
This article is written by Farah Khan who is a Practising Lawyer and Philanthropist. Follow her facebook page @farahkhanlawyer or visit her website www.farah.net.nz.
