Family is a wonderful thing, but when it comes to your Will, family politics and pressures can make things a little difficult – especially if family members feel like they have missed out on what they consider to be their inheritance.
There are ways that you can help to negate these feelings though, when you are writing your Will. Here’s a brief look at some of the best ways that you can help balance your wishes and family expectations when writing a Will.
Work out Your Wishes
One of the best places to start with writing your Will is actually making a list of what you want to happen to your assets when you pass on. Your Will can be as general or as detailed as you like, so even if you want to leave small sentimental items to individuals, you can make provision for that in your Will. Just make sure that you’ve covered the big assets as well as the small ones.
Talk First
The next thing to do is to speak to your family members in a relaxed way, one-on-one. Don’t be too specific about writing your Will, but have a general conversation about what they expect when you die and don’t forget to ask why they want certain things. The what and why can be extremely useful when it comes to writing your Will and deciding how your family’s expectations fit in with your Will.
It is a good idea to have this conversation before you have written your Will, as it is much easier to create one document weighing expectations and wishes than it is to retroactively change your wishes to incorporate expectations.
Write It
Once you have spoken to all your family members, you should have a good idea about what they each expect and if there are any members that want the same thing but can’t have it. You can also see if any family members expect to inherit more than their fair share of your estate.
With notes on what your family expect from your estate and the wishes that you initially outlined, you can craft your Will and decide for yourself whether requests from family members should be granted or not. Whatever decisions you make in your Will, make notes as to why you decided to do this (not in the Will itself), as those notes are going to be extremely useful for the next step.
Discuss It
With your Will written, make two or three copies of it and call all of your family together. Give them the copies of the Will and let them read it. Explain the decisions you have made in your Will and why they aren’t necessarily getting what they want from your estate. Once you have finished explaining, gather the copies of the Will back up (make sure they are all there), and then listen to any suggestions your family may have.
Having read your Will, there may be things that they think of that should be in your Will that you haven’t included and wouldn’t have thought of. Make sure that you explain that the Will is subject to change as life changes occur too.
Amendments
After the meeting with your family, make any necessary amendments to your Will. Destroy the old copies that you don’t need anymore and securely store the official Will.
Want to get started on your Will? Call our Will writing experts today to see how we can help you get your Will written and your wishes honoured.
