How to Get Your Will Prepared

Preparing your Will can be a task that many people leave off doing and avoid. Many do not see the point in doing it until later in life. This is very unreliable thinking since anything can happen at any point in your life. The truth is that having your Will ready is very crucial. If you are unsure how to prepare your Will, do not worry since it is straightforward. The following points go into the entire process of getting your Will prepared, such as creating it and ensuring that it is legal.

Signs That I Should Prepare a Will?

There are many signs to help determine if you should be preparing your Will. In Canada, you need to be at least 18 years old to create a Will. If you are an adult, you ultimately should have a Will. Even if you do not have any investments yet, you can choose who you want your finances to go to. Other indications that you should have a Will include having a career and having a variety of different savings and investments. As mentioned earlier, anything can happen in life at any given time. Having your decisions already written down will prevent others from obtaining your life assets.

Steps to Create Your Will

Know What Your Assets Are
The first thing you need to establish is what assets you have. Your assets will include all your savings, investments, and properties. It is easy to combine all your assets and confuse the monetary amount. Ensure that you separate everything into categories when you sit down to evaluate all your finances. Combine all your savings accounts, investments and properties, and other finances. Once you have done this, you can calculate how much you have in all categories and then all together. Doing these calculations will save you from confusion about how much you genuinely have.

Figure Out Your Wishes

The next thing that you need to evaluate is where you want your assets to go. This can usually include family members or close friends. If you have a more prominent family, you may go to specific members. Taking the time to evaluate and divide your assets accordingly is essential. It is also vital that you do not let others influence you on where your assets go. Unfortunately, pressure from family can be common when you are creating a Will. Remember that this is your Will and that no one else should be involved in the decision. Choosing your beneficiaries is a decision that should solely be on you.

Have Authentication Prepared

After you have your Will written out, you will need to provide some documentation to ensure validity. There have been cases where people have tried writing fraudulent Wills for others. To avoid this from happening, the government will require a few documents. These include IDs, birth certificates, mortgages, investment verification, a list of bank accounts, and personal information. Having these things with your Will shows that this was written by you and is not fraudulent.

Sign Your Will

This is the primary step to authorize your Will. To ensure that this signature is legal, you will need two witnesses present. This will validate the signing and prove that you signed it. Make sure that you do not have beneficiaries at your signing. They should not even be in the same room as the signing. Beneficiaries can lose their inheritance if they happen to sign or witness it.

Storing Your Will

After your Will is signed, you will want to store it in a safe location. This can be safe somewhere in your house. The safest option is to keep it in a safety deposit box at the bank. This way, your executor can access it easily when you pass away.

Updating Your Will

Every few years, you should look at your Will and update it. Your assets may have grown quite a bit within a couple of years, and you will want to write this down in your Will. You also may have bought more investments, which is essential to add to your other assets. Try to update your Will every four years. After adding these changes, you will re-sign to make the new changes legalized.

Creating a Will is a simple process, yet many people have legal and financial questions about them. If you want help creating a Will, please get in touch with our office. We would be glad to help you!

Sources

-Hicks, Patrick (2021). Will Preparation-Checklist For Making a Will. Trust and Will. Retrieved from https://trustandwill.com/learn/will-preparation