By: Beconrad
There are many important documents in our lives, but few carry the life-changing importance that a will can provide. While every responsible adult should have a will in place, all too few of those men and women have taken the time to prepare for this vital document. A will provides much more than peace of mind – a properly executed will provide valuable protections for those you love, and it is important for anyone with a family to protect to start planning their will without delay.
Why Do I Need a Will?
Many otherwise responsible adults ignore the obvious importance of a will out of a kind of willful blindness. Many people may feel that preparing a will is bad luck, as if the simple act of preparing a will can invoke some sort of disaster. Still, others may simply be reluctant to create a will because doing so requires them to come face to face with their own mortality. While this is understandable, it is no excuse for not protecting your family with this vital legal document. If you doubt the importance of having a will in place just think about the disruption that would result if you were to die today. Not only would your surviving family members be financially devastated but they may never have the solace of knowing that your final wishes were carried out.
Without a will in place, your family members may never know your final wishes, and this uncertainty is bound to cause stress for those you leave behind. When you have a will in place you can spell out exactly what your final wishes are and give your surviving family members the satisfaction of knowing that they have carried out those final wishes. From how you want your funeral arrangements handled to which family members inherit those priceless family heirlooms you can let your family know exactly what you had in mind.
Do You Have Minor Children? – If So You Absolutely Must Have a Will
While having a will in place is important no matter what your circumstances if you have minor children who rely on you it is absolutely imperative that you start working on your will right now. No matter how busy you are it is important to make time to protect your family from the unexpected. No matter how young or healthy you are it is vital to plan for the unexpected – young and healthy parents can and do die every day, and having a will in place is the best way to protect your children and make sure their physical, emotional and financial needs will be met even if you are no longer around.
Many parents feel that a will is unnecessary because the surviving parent would simply take over all the parenting responsibilities, but what happens if you and your spouse were both to die? If you doubt this possibility just think about the thousands of people who die in car crashes all across the country. If you and your spouse were to die in one of these road mishaps, who would raise your children, who would take care of them, and who would make sure they received the emotional support they need in their time of need?
When you have a will in place you can provide the answers to these important questions, spelling out in clear detail exactly what your desires are and who will protect your children if you are no longer able to care for them. In fact, naming a proper guardian for your minor children is perhaps the most important benefit of having a will in place. Protecting your financial assets is one thing, but protecting your children and their vital interests is something else entirely. If you do not have a will in place you cannot know that your children are truly protected, and you cannot know for sure that the guardian you had in mind will, in fact, raise your children to adulthood. So no more excuses – if you have children you simply must have a will in place.
