A Will records who should deal with your estate, who should benefit, and any other appointments or wishes you want documented. Its exact contents depend on your circumstances and the law of the relevant jurisdiction.
The sections below explain the information and decisions commonly covered when preparing a Will.
Step 1 - Personal Information
A Will should identify you clearly, commonly using details such as your full name, date of birth and identification number.
To make sure that there are no delays in the probate process, you should also make sure to include all names that you use in other legal documentation.
Relevant information can include your marital status, children and pets because these details can affect how the Will should be written.
For example, marriage renders a Will invalid. If you are contemplating marriage, the Will may require specific wording. Seek professional advice about the effect of marriage in your jurisdiction.
Step 2 - Guardians for your children and pets
You will need a guardian if your children are under the age of 18.
Generally, guardians take responsibility of your children as if they are the parents, and will have to make both trivial and important decisions for them.
Pets are also part of the family, and you can record who you would like to care for them.
Step 3 - Estate
This is the part where you can decide on who gets what from your estate. You can choose to give everything away directly to your spouse or children, or a percentage split between the beneficiaries.
You have full testamentary freedom to give away your estate. This means you are not restricted to give away a specific portion of your estate to family members.
If you leave your estate to minor children, their share will be held on trust by the trustee appointed in your Will until they reach adulthood.
Optional - Exclusion
To avoid future disputes, you can choose to exclude someone in your Will. This would be persons that you might think would raise a claim against your estate, such as a former spouse.
Read more about residuary estates.
Step 4 - Executors and Trustees
An executor/ trustee plays an important role as they become responsible for managing and distributing your estate in accordance with your Will. You should choose someone whom you trust and are good with paperwork and admin tasks.
You can appoint an executor or trustee in your Will; they may be family members or close friends.
Read more about Executors and Trustees.
Optional - Specific Gifts
You may have personal belongings that are of sentimental value, and you would like to give these to specific people in your life. In this section, you can give away these items as well as cash gifts to individuals and charities.
What Gifts can I give away
You can give away your personal items such as your jewelry, artwork, vehicles and furniture. You should specify these gifts clearly so they can be identified at the process of the distribution. Describe each gift clearly enough for it to be identified during administration.
Generally your personal possessions form part of your residuary estate. So you would only specify valuable items or those that have sentimental value in the Will to make it legally binding. Alternatively, you can choose to include these in your letter of wishes, which you can update regularly without affecting your Will.
You can give away cash amounts to individuals or to charities. For charities, you will need to specify the charity name, address and charity number (if any).
You may also leave property to specific individuals. Property gifts can require additional due diligence and tailored drafting to ensure they can be transferred to the intended beneficiary.
What Gifts can I not give away
Some assets—including bank accounts, shares, property, business interests, life insurance and pensions—may pass under different rules or require tailored drafting. Check ownership and nomination arrangements before relying on a Will.
What happens if the gift fails
Sometimes a gift fails because it does not exist or you no longer own it at the time of your passing or the gift itself is unclear. If such situation happens, then the beneficiaries will not receive the gift. If the gift is unclear then those gifts would form part of your residuary estate. It is therefore important to ensure that the gifts are clearly identified in your Will.
Optional - Assets
Keep a separate list of your assets alongside your Will. This list can be updated regularly without affecting your Will, and would greatly reduce the hassle for your executors to find your assets when you pass away.
The asset list can also cover digital assets. You can choose to fill it in if you believe any of your digital assets are of importance. Examples such as your Paypal account, cryptocurrency wallet or Instagram business. Please do NOT include any passwords.
Each online company has their own terms of service listing out how a customer’s information should be managed if they passed away, so you can also utilize their pre-planning tools online such as Facebook legacy contact or Google inactive account manager which allows you to choose someone to manage your account if it becomes inactive for more than a period of time.
Optional - Funeral Arrangement
You can decide on whether you wish to be cremated or buried or to use your body for scientific purposes.
This section is not legally binding and family members tend to arrange your funeral before reading the Will. However, you can at least express your wishes here.
*If you choose to donate your body for scientific purposes, we suggest that you make arrangements with a scientific facility beforehand and mention the facility when you go through this process.
Standard - Provisions that structure your Will
There are some standard provisions in the Will. One clause defines “Residuary Estate” in your Will, and the Administrative Provisions contains additional clauses to provide the Trustees flexibility to manage your estate.
Read more on the standard clauses in the Will.
Final Step - Signatures
Once you are happy with the details in the Will, the final step is to sign your Will with witnesses. Follow the signing instructions for your jurisdiction carefully so the Will is executed correctly.
If you have difficulty signing, seek professional advice about the execution options available in your jurisdiction.