What to Leave Out When Making Your Will

So you’ve finally decided to sit down and draft your Will. While you should be applauded for your effort, what you may not realize is what you leave out of your Will can be just as important as what you include.

Having a sound Will in place is important because it tells your surviving loved ones how your property and assets should be disposed of after you’re gone. Without a Will in place, your estate falls under New Jersey’s intestacy laws. Many people assume that by creating a Will, they can distribute their property and assets with impunity. However, depending on your situation, you may have certain assets or properties that are already bequeathed to another beneficiary.

One common example is joint tenancy property. Let’s say you and your brother own a piece of property together. When drafting your Will, however, you request that your ownership pass to your spouse. Upon your death, by law, your interest in the joint tenancy property would pass to your brother and not your spouse despite your Will requesting otherwise.

Another similar example is life insurance. If you already have a beneficiary to your life insurance policy, stating in your Will that you would like another person to be your beneficiary is a futile effort. According to the law, you already named a beneficiary — your Will cannot invalidate your policy and designate a new beneficiary.

Avoid leaving gifts for unlawful purposes

When leaving a gift in your Will, do not include unlawful instructions regarding how the gift should be used. For example, you would be unable to leave your Malibu home to your nephew under the condition that the home only be used for trafficking drugs.

Leave funeral instructions out of your Will

If you have detailed instructions about how you wish to buried, you aren’t alone. However, you should resist the urge to include funeral instructions in your Will. Why? Because most estates and probate proceedings aren’t dealt with until after the funeral, making your extensive and well-thought out funerary guidelines of little use to your heirs. Instead, simply talk to your loved ones about how you wish to be buried.

For more information about what you should and should not include in your will, consult with an experienced estate planning attorney today. Contact Alec Borenstein, Esq., at alec@bmcestateplanning.com, or call 908-236-6457 for assistance with estate planning matters in New Jersey and New York.