Avoid the Grief of Probate

After you die, your will is your voice. Your will is a legal document that allows you to express how you want your personal property distributed after your death. It lets you express who will take care of your children and who you want to be the distributor of your will. With a will, you can provide for your coin collection, your pet, your great grandmother’s ring and anything else of yours that you want someone to have.

Everyone should have a will. Without a will, the state where your property is located is in charge of determining the way your property is distributed regardless of your wishes. If you want to have a say about the property you leave behind, you must have a will to control what happens in your affairs after your death. You can have a will drawn up in your attorney’s office, or you can simply go online and design your own. You can learn more about how to create your will online at mytexaswills.com.

If you die without a will and don’t have children, any property you have goes to your parents. If your parents have already passed away, your property goes to your siblings. This is the case even if you haven’t talked to your siblings in years. Your spouse might get a smaller portion of your belongings that the law puts aside for him or her, but without a will, spouses and domestic partners can be left with nothing much at all. In some instances, a spouse can lose their home if you die without a will.

When you don’t have a will, you close the door to any friends inheriting anything from you regardless of how close they are. You won’t be able to leave money to your favorite cause, charity or church. The state makes the decision about who takes care of your kids. Basically, what you want, think or hoped would happen after you die is completely discounted when you don’t have a will in place. The decision-making process is done without you.

Another advantage of a will is that you can assign an “executor” to take care of all your personal affairs. This should be someone you trust completely as they are the person who goes to probate court with your will. Probate court determines if the will is valid and if it complies with the laws in your state. If the will is valid, it is probated. This means everything you wanted to happen will take place according to your instructions. The court gives the person you chose the right to handle your will under the court’s supervision.

When you have a will, you can rest assured that your wishes come true, and you can then rest in peace.