Do the Preparation That You Can

Various things have happened in the last couple of weeks which made me think to remind people of 2 very important things with regard to ensuring that the executor and family and friends will not have unnecessary stress at what is already a stressful time.

The first is to ensure that your Will is up to date about your information, heirs and your current situation. This cannot be emphasised enough. What we have come across recently is a Will which was made 7 years ago, has an old address and mentions both a business and furniture which have been sold. The Testator now has Dementia and so cannot make a new, updated Will. When he does die it is very possible that the Will could be declared invalid and he be declared to have died intestate. This means that it will be up to the Master of the Court to decide how his assets are bequeathed. This has been known to take up to 12 years.

Secondly, a car was left to a beneficiary but never transferred into the beneficiary’s name. He has now also died and, in the 4 years since the original owner died car has not been registered nor licensed so cannot be driven. Someone suggested that it could be declared stolen unless proof of it having been bequeathed to the deceased gentleman can be found. A question has been asked as to whether it was actually in the Will. It is so easy to say to a special relative or faithful servant of many years that they may have a particular item but not have it recorded.

We do not know when our moment is due and if we have not made proper preparation a lot of work is left for our family and friends and winding up the Estate can take many years. Just this week I heard of 4 people who had died, two unexpectedly, another from old age and the fourth following a long illness. It is the responsibility of each of us to ensure that our affairs are all in order so that our personal wishes for the distribution of our Estate is efficiently done.