Many other Acts and Legislation affect Wills, such as The Wills Variation Act, The Trustee Act, the Power of Attorney Act, etc.   You may not wish that your estate be divided in this manner and your Will is the way to state your wishes.    

 

A Will must be properly documented.  There are various requirements in how your Will must be prepared and executed.  A Will must be in writing and properly signed and witnessed.  Your Will should be reviewed periodically and you may wish to draw a new Will or simply add a Codicil amending a simple clause or part of your Will.  Codicils must be documented, prepared and executed correctly as well. 

 

There are several circumstances which may invalidate your Will, such as marriage, divorce or an improperly executed document.  If there has been recent births or deaths in your family, you may wish to review your Will to ensure that you have properly provided for these situations.

Simply crossing a line or a person out of your Will, does not necessary revoke or remove these clauses from your Will.

 

Appointing the executor:

This is a key decision.  This is the person that will oversee your estate distribution and deal with all aspects of the estate including funeral arrangements, dealing with family members, listing the assets, converting the assets to cash, paying the debts of the estate, dealing with income tax matters and distributing the estate.  That’s a lot to handle!  The amount of time alone required for this job can be considerable.  Your executor should be a person you trust, you believe will survive you, has the ability and time to handle the job, has a good business sense and is able to deal effectively with the beneficiaries.  An executor residing locally is also a good idea.

 

In an outright Will between husband and wife, you may appoint the surviving spouse the Executor because all of the estate would be delivered to the surviving spouse.

 

In addition to an Executor, you should appoint an alternate Executor in case your first appointee has predeceased you or is unable or unwilling to act as Executor at the time of your death.

 

Trust Wills

Notaries are limited to the type of Will we can prepare.  Notaries can only prepare a Will containing a Statutory Trust which means that any minor that is a beneficiary will receive their bequest at the age of majority, currently 19 years of age.  Should you wish to put trust provisions into your Will, you must speak to a lawyer to have this drafted.  Our offices would be happy to make a few suggestions in this regard.  A trust is created when your Executor or Trustee does not immediately dispose of certain parts of the residue of the estate.  The Executor or Trustee will hold the money in trust until the beneficiary has met the trust requirement (became a certain age, etc.)  You may wish the  Executor or Trustee to  have the right to encroach on the capital of the trust for the care, comfort and education of the beneficiary.  This is why you will want your Executor or Trustee to have wide powers so that they can effectively manager your estate, under any given circumstances, at the time of your death.

 

Joint Tenancy

In most instances property owned as “Joint Tenants” have the right of survivorship and will automatically transfer over to the surviving joint tenant and does not form a part of the estate.  However in the case of a common disaster (such as an accident) the law presumes that the younger has died last.  Accordingly the jointly held asset would roll into the estate of the younger and be dealt with in accordance to that Will or their intestacy.

 

Funeral Wishes

Although quite often a Will does contain instructions regarding the deceased’s wishes regarding their funeral, burial, organ donations or cremation it is often prudent to inform your family and friends of your wishes.  Quite often, the Will is found after the funeral has taken place and this may be too late for any specific requests of this nature.

 

As you can see, careful consideration and planning need go into the making of your Will.  The office of Patricia D. Wright, Notary Public, has a questionnaire and information package to assist you in preparing your Will.  These forms will draw attention to the many points that should be considered when preparing your Will.  These forms will make it easier at the time we meet for an appointment should you wish our office to assist you in preparing your Will and  you will have time to have consider some of the possibilities that may occur when dealing with your estate.