May 26, 2016

Anytime that a celebrity passes away, we get the opportunity to benefit from his or her planning or lack of planning. Unfortunately, a growing number of Americans, much like pop star Prince, do not have a will at all. 

What follows are several reasons why it’s important to put your estate in order now as opposed to later. Four reasons you need to stop putting this process off and create a will now include:

• Allocating what happens to your things after you pass away. If you have specific assets you would like to pass on to particular individuals, your will can outline this and make it much easier for your beneficiaries by avoiding the probate process. This can be one of the biggest and easiest benefits of stipulating what you want to happen in your will.
• Your children. Creating a will is an essential component of your estate planning if you have minor children because it allows you to name a guardian for these individuals.
• Charitable help. If you wish to give back to charities after you pass away, your will can direct part of the money to those groups. You may also need to use more complex estate planning tools like a trust in order to get the maximum benefit out of this process.
• It is easy to create a will. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that you can create a will on your own as using generic forms could run counter to existing state or federal laws and fail to capture the complex nature of estate planning.

Your will can help to articulate your plans for the future and give you peace of mind.

Thankfully, putting together a will is relatively easily accomplished when you set up a meeting with an experienced New Jersey estate planning attorney. Do not hesitate to get help on your estate planning matters as soon as possible.