4 Things to Think About Before Writing a Will

Writing a Will in New Zealand (or anywhere!) can often be thought of with a “she’ll be right” mentality and then it’s put on the back burner. Some even avoid it altogether out of fear of tempting the evil eye of fate.  But if you think about it, a Will is just a piece of paper, so the scariest thing about having one is the possibility of getting a paper cut! Not having one, however, is much scarier and riskier for those closest to you. For example, find out what happens when you don’t have a Will. For an even scarier story, look up the unsettling one about Prince! He didn’t have a Will and look at what’s still happening to his estate.

Today we’re here to show you how ‘un-scary’ the conversation about Wills actually is. Below, we’ve compiled a list of the main things you need to think about before writing your Will. Once that’s done the hard part is over. So, let’s get started!

Consider your assets

The most frequent thing we hear time and time again is “I don’t need a Will, I don’t have any assets”. This is a common misconception many people have, especially among the younger folks. However, if you consider how long you’ve been on this earth and all the things you’ve collected so far, you might surprise yourself with how many assets you actually have.

What is an asset?

An asset is anything which has present and/or future value and can be jointly or solely owned. The sum of a person’s assets forms their estate. Assets include:

• Cash, bank accounts (savings & checking), bonus bonds, cryptocurrency, shares

• Property, land

• Personal property: boats,cars, jewellery, collectors’ items

• Investments like KiwiSaver, personal and employer-provided life insurance

Consider where and how your assets are set up

• Overseas assets

  • Do you have assets in another country? This is something we often come across. Every country has its own set of rules and legislation, and trying to deal with these during estate administration from here in New Zealand can lead to a very large bill indeed. For this reason, we always recommend creating a separate Will in the country of origin for any overseas assets. This helps to keep the costs down and should speed up the process.

• Personal assets

  • Do you have any assets that are in your name only such as bank accounts, group life insurance with your employer, or KiwiSaver? If you pass away, those funds will be frozen and unavailable until your estate has been settled. If you and your partner are living out of the one personal bank account right now, you may want to consider making it a joint bank account, so these funds remain available if the worst were to happen.

Consider those in your life who may be involved when you create your Will

• Your executor

  • The person you choose as your executor will be taking on a large responsibility, so you don’t want to appoint someone without asking if they would like the job first. You’ll want to make sure that this person understands they are financially liable for any mistakes that negatively impact any beneficiaries. They will also need to be able to commit a large amount of time to the task. It is our recommendation not to select someone who could be grieving or who will feel conflicted if those closest to you start to disagree about your final wishes.

  • Read our ‘cue the executor’ article for more details on your executor’s role.

• Family members and/or friends

  • Having a conversation about your Will is not something people get excited about, however, it is an important conversation you should have with the ones closest to you. By talking to your family members about what’s in your Will, you can help to reduce family feuding after you are gone.

• Guardians

  • Whether it’s your children’s guardian or a guardian for your pets, you’ll want to have that discussion with whoever you would like to appoint. Make sure they understand the responsibilities involved and are prepared to do what is needed – not just now, but in the future, should the worst happen.

How you’re going to distribute your estate

Now that you have an idea of what assets you actually have in your estate, you need to think about who you want them to go to.

Without a Will, New Zealand legislation dictates where your assets end up and the hierarchy in which they are distributed. With a Will, you have the power to decide! So if you care about who gets what, it is best to put one in place.

Immediate and secondary beneficiaries

Naturally, you’ll have your immediate beneficiaries and most likely they’ll be the ones closest to you, but you also might want to consider including secondary beneficiaries. This means that – should your primary beneficiaries no longer be around – your assets will go down the ladder to the next ones (secondary) in your Will.

Donating to a cause you care about

When writing your Will, this is also the perfect time to start thinking about causes that have always been close to your heart. Maybe now is your chance to make a difference with a small (or large) donation?

Ready to write your Will? Create one online with Footprint!

There you have it! After you’ve sussed out the above, all that’s left to do is formalise it. If you take the Footprint approach, just fill-in-the-blanks in our online template, and we’ll draft your Will up for you (no paper cuts at all). Explore our Will packages online and decide which option is right for you. You can also check out our Will information hub to learn all the ‘need to know’ stuff about Wills, probate, estate administration, and more!