Making a will: All you must know

YOU MUST PLAN AHEAD

It is always difficult to talk about death which is inevitable. When it happens, you don’t want to leave your family in a financial mess and with the burden of deciding who gets how much.

If you don’t make a will, your legal heir, categorised based on religion and relation, will get your assets. If you have assets that are jointly held with other family members then it may get complicated. There have been multiple instances where children fight over assets after their parents’ deaths. In order to avoid such situations, making a will is necessary.

WRITE IT OR CHOOSE FROM AN ONLINE PLAN

Creating a will is not a difficult process. You can either make a handwritten will or use a basic structure available online. There are multiple option available on the internet.

You also need to appoint an executor who is not the beneficiary of the will. The executor can be a friend, family member or your wealth manager.

If you write a will on a paper and get it signed by two different witnesses in front of the executor, it should be good enough too.

You also may want to inform them about your will.

HOW TO GO ABOUT IT

Firstly, you need to include all the assets that you own in the will. It can include saving accounts, fixed deposits, mutual funds, gold and real estate. Some people own paintings and artwork, which have monetary value and can be included.

You can also add items that don’t have monetary value. With increased use of social media, you are likely to have online intellectual properties and accounts which you may want to give away. Once you have listed out the items, you will have to mention where it is with documents, locker keys and passwords, if any.