With the number of disadvantages to dying without a will in Lombard, it is in your best interest to retain control over your estate by drafting one. With the help of an attorney, you could exercise the caution and control you need over your estate for the future. Let an attorney help you draft a will and avoid an intestate estate.
A will is a document that basically outlines what a person wants to have happened when they pass away. In Illinois, there are various requirements for when a will is admitted to probate. In Illinois, it needs to be in writing and it needs to be signed in the presence of two witnesses. To admit a will to probate, people need to sign an intestation clause where they attest that they saw that the testator signed and then they saw each other sign, they signed it in the testator’s presence, and the testator was of sound mind and memory when they executed the will.
A will could also have many different parts that name who testators want to have administered their estate upon their death. A will could name who testators want to receive their property, it could appoint a guardian for minor children, and it could essentially give everyone who is around after their death a clear understanding of what their wishes are and allow a court to carry out those wishes.
A person should first contact an attorney about writing a will whenever they begin to see a reason in order to provide for what happens after their death, and this is often different for different people and depends on their circumstances. For example, that decision could be when a couple starts to have children and, in the event of some sort of tragedy or disaster, they want to be able to select to indicate who they want to have taken care of their children.
That is definitely a driving force for younger couples who may not have a ton of money, but there may be a certain family dynamic where they definitely want to make sure that they have named a guardian for their minor children.
A lot of times, families have various issues and there might be certain family members who are more or less suitable for serving as guardian. It is important for those couples to make their wishes known. Another timing event for when people contact an attorney about writing a will is if there is another major life event that takes place such as maybe they have grandchildren and they want to make sure that their property is distributed to grandchildren.
Equally common and based on time is when a family has grandchildren and testators wish to include those grandchildren in the will.
In other, unique situations, there may be times where a family wishes to disinherit someone or they wish to bequeath their property to a close friend or charity instead of family. Major life events are what triggers a desire to go see an estate planning attorney.
Some of the disadvantages of dying without a will mean that decedents are unable to pick where their property goes. Instead, the Illinois courts would follow steps it has in place to distribute the property accordingly. In addition to not being able to hand-select an executor, an advantage of having a will is that people could waive bond, which is the requirement that their administrator pays an insurance policy essentially to protect the estate. If there is no will, then a bond generally needs to be put up by the administrator.
If the court requires a surety on that bond, then the estate essentially has to pay an additional fee to the surety company. That is in addition to the lack of choice, disadvantages of dying without a will. For example, if someone dies and they are not married with no kids, but maybe they have some close friends, no matter how close the relationship the decedent had with those friends, they are not going to inherit under the estate. It is going to go to perhaps a distant cousins or nieces and nephews.
There are numerous disadvantages to dying without a will in Lombard. These disadvantages center around a lack of control that you have over delegations of your property after you pass. Instead of exercising control over your estate, the probate courts would then distribute property in accordance with Illinois law. If this does not sound like something you wish to happen, then you need a will. Let an experienced attorney help you exercise the control you desire over your estate.
