This common question is one that comes up because most people wait until they are much older to create a will. But creating a will now can help you and your loved ones in the event that the worst happens. No one wants to contemplate their own mortality but any person aged 18 or older should consider creating a will. It will make things that much easier for your family members to be able to navigate the complex process of probate and to move forward.
Although you might assume that you may not need a will until you are much older, your family members will already be coping with enough grief and unique challenges if something happens to you and you are much younger. In creating a will, starting at age 18 or whatever your current age is, you get the comfort of knowing that you hopefully don’t have to use this will for many years and can continue to come back to it and update it as circumstances warrant it.
But you also know that your loved one won’t be in the difficult position of trying to sort through your estate on their own or of having to comply with whatever the court has determined is the appropriate transferred property because you are not around to determine this and did not take the steps to articulate it in your will. The truth is that people of all ages and backgrounds can benefit from creating a will because it is not you who will deal with the administration of your estate but it is your loved ones.
Think of it not as a task on your to-do list but as a gift you can leave behind to your family members to make things organized and streamlined in the event that something unexpected happens to you. No matter your current age and no matter how long it’s been since you contemplated creating a will or updating a current one, you can benefit from speaking to an estate planning lawyer.
