Why You Should Have a Will
Harrisburg attorney Brian Zellner discusses why and when you should have a will. For your convenience, the transcription for the video is included below.
Why You Should Have a Will
“Hi, I’m Brian Zellner of Hynum Law and I’m here today to talk to you about why you should have a will. Many people today don’t have a will and they generally would come to an attorney about a will in two situations: either they’re going on vacation which requires an airplane flight or they’re going to have a surgery. But any time is a good time to have a will.
How a Will Works
What a will does is it allows you to make specific gifts to people. If there’s an item that one of your children wants, an antique car, antique clock, you can give it to them in your will. You can also make monetary gifts to people other than your family. If you would like to make charitable donations, you can do that through the will, making a specific gift.
Designating an Executor
The one thing that doing a will also does is that it allows you to pick the person who’s going to be administering your estate. Everyone has different qualifications, different abilities. It may be that one of your children is better at handling financial issues than another, and that’s who you want to pick to be the executor of your will.
Dividing Your Estate
It’ll also allow you to divide your estate, to pick the percentages between the individuals that you would like to leave your estate to. It doesn’t have to be an even split. It can be any number of combinations as long as you’re giving away your entire estate.
The other thing to take into account is that if you have children under the age of 18, you’d want to have a trust in your will to provide for their health, education, welfare, in case something would happen to you or happen to your spouse.
The other thing to keep in mind is that if you have a special needs child, you’d want to set up a special needs trust. Money that gets put into this trust to make sure that your child is taken care of. The last thing in regard to children is that you also can designate a guardian of your children. In case something should happen to you and something should happen to your spouse, you can designate the individuals who you would like to have guardianship or custody of your children in case something would happen.
What Having a Will Can Do for You
What a will does, it allows you to plan ahead for the worst-case scenario. What may happen in the event of your death, and the event of your spouse’s death. It’s good to have one now in case before you become ill, so in case something does happen, the people that are charged with administering your estate know what your wishes are, how to distribute your property, and how to make arrangements to care financially and physically for your children.
If you have any questions about wills, or would like to contact me about estate planning, you can find me at Hynum law. My number is (717) 801-1105 or you can contact me through the website: www.hynumlaw.com.”