Make a Will but Avoid These Common Mistakes
When you make a will, you leave specific amounts to individuals such as $50,000 to Jon and $50,000 to Sue. that's a bad idea because the amount of money you have changes all the time. So if you have $100,000 today, rather than leaving $50,000 to each of two people in your will, leave 50% to each. That way, your will instructions will be clear even when the amount of money you have changes.
Make a will and forget it. That's a bad idea because if you leave say 20% of your assets to your 3 grandchildren and you name them, and subsequently, you have another grandchild, the new grandchild would get nothing be he is not names. Rather, if you leave 20% to be divided equally by all your grandchildren, should you have another grandchild, any new grandchild will be included in your bequest. In other words, when you make a will, assume that the people may change so it may be best to leave your assets to different categories such as your children or grandchildren rather than name specific individuals.
When you make a will, be careful about this inheriting people such as a spouse. If you live in a common-law state -- and 41 states are, along with the District of Columbia -- you can't disinherit a spouse. You typically must leave him or her one-quarter to one-half of your estate, depending on the state's laws. The same goes for improperly dis-inheriting a child when you make a will. In most states, a child has a good chance of getting a share of the inheritance if he isn't mentioned in the will at all. If you really want to disinherit a child state the name in your will and the reason so you have the best chance of your wishes overriding any inherent rights of your child. Or, another option is to Leave the child you wich to disinherit assets that may be less important to you with a "no-contest" clause that revokes the bequest if he challenges the will.
When you make a will, you assume that your beneficiaries well live you. That is not always the case. So take into account every beneficiary passing away before you do. Let's assume you leave some assets to your son John. Should he die before you do my guess is that you'd like to leave that portion of your assets to your other child. However, if you will states that the assets be left to John and he dies, then the assets you would've left him will go to his estate and will quite possibly passed to his ex-wife who you've always hated. So when you make a will, you see the problem of naming individuals and assuming that they will all outlive you. Make a provision for every person you name not outliving you and where their share will go.
Making a will that does not coordinate with your non-will assets. Remember that some assets you have pass outside of your will such as IRA accounts 401(k) accounts annuities and life insurance. Therefore when you're thinking about dividing the assets for example equally, when you make your will, remember that there are certain assets to exclude because they already have specifically named beneficiaries that will override anything in your will.
