The importance of making a will during COVID-19.
Why should you make a will during the COVID-19 pandemic? Well, there are a few good reasons:
First, wills can help you decide on an executor who assist in administering your estate. Executors are in charge of tying up loose ends in your affairs. Examples of these include repaying existing bills, administering and distributing items to your nominated parties. Make sure you appoint someone you trust and are comfortable with handling your legacy, in accordance with your wishes in the will, for when you are no longer able to do so.
Secondly, wills are legally enforceable documents that help you distribute your belongings and property. Through a will, you can leave certain items and valuables to individuals that may hold special sentimental value to you. Alternatively, you can even make gifts to organisations, charities or loved ones. Wills are a good, legally enforceable way to make sure your loved ones are provided for in future. It’s important to engage a lawyer to ensure that the relevant requirements to have a will be considered valid are met.
Finally, having a will can help you reduce uncertainty. Anything can happen during a pandemic, so making a will can remove uncertainty when it comes to distributing your estate and providing for your loved ones. Without a will, your property is distributed by the court among your relatives- this distribution might be different to what you wish to happen! As such, it’s better to have things down in writing, distributed according to how you want it, and by an appointed executor you trust.
COVID-19 has brought along with it some uncertainty, anxiety and stress for many, in a variety of ways.
The unpredictable nature of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and how we as a society are to live with it creates a foreboding aura of the scarcity of life.
Life is short. I think that’s something that we are all coming to terms with if we haven’t already had such illuminated to us.
Global health is an ongoing concern and with the restrictions easing to facilitate international travel (even in circumstances that we are in now with the Russia/Ukraine conflict), it is important that before making any big decisions (whether it be vaccinations, international travel, or otherwise) that all your wishes are expressed in a will. Nobody can guarantee that tomorrow is going to happen, and this has been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is better to be safe than sorry with these kind of things, and we look at the case study of Prince below who left hundreds of millions of dollars at the time of his death with no clear indication of who that was going to go to.
Case Study: Prince
For today’s case study, we look at the death of the famous musician, Prince.
Surprisingly, even the rich and famous can fail to plan ahead when it comes to their estate.
Prince died from an accidental overdose in April 2016, aged 57, and did not leave a will, with his fortune due to go to his siblings, though two of the six, Alfred Jackson and John R. Nelson, have passed away since then. Prince left a valuable and complicated estate that was made more complicated by his inactions and oversights. We do not even know if, how the estate is being dealt with now, is in accordance with his wishes.
He was twice divorced and unmarried at the time of his death and had no offspring. Prince had numerous full- and half-siblings. What this means is there are a lot of individuals who could make a claim on the estate.
After 6 years, the estate will now be almost evenly split between a music company, Primary Wave — who bought out all or most of the interests of Prince’s three youngest siblings, including Alfred, while the others rejected their approach. These family members were essentially entitled to millions of dollars without express provision by Prince (through a will) for such to occur.
Prince’s estate has been valued at about $160 million and continues to generate money. Since death, Prince’s streams on Spotify and Apple have sky-rocketed, generating millions of dollars dispersed to people whom we do not even know he wished to inherit.
The executor, or administrator, often is the key to determining how the estate is distributed and how much is available to distribute. While important in every estate, the role of executor is more important than usual in Prince’s estate due to its complex nature and the several individuals entitled to make a claim.
Because Prince died without preparing a will he didn’t have a say in even the basic decision of who should shares in his estate or be his executor. Even in the smallest of estates, this is critical. You have worked hard for your estate, even if it is small – wouldn’t you want to have a say on who deals with it when you pass?
In many cases, what the deceased would have wanted differs greatly from what happens once the issue of probate has been dealt with by the Courts.
If you are wanting to learn more about creating your own unique and bespoke legacy package that accords with your wishes, be sure to contact us to organise a time to meet with the Family.
Written by Collaborative Family Lawyer, Stefano Cammarano.
Want to learn more about Stefano? Click here.
