Do you have a will? If you don't, you should write one right away because a will is usually a vital document. It's not good to die without a will because your beneficiaries or relatives might have unending disputes over your estate or assets. You also leave the court to decide what happens to your estate. Where possible, you should indicate in a will how the estate should be distributed to the heirs. However, writing a will isn't as easy as it may seem. You may actually write a will that won't serve the intended purpose if you don't seek legal help from a competent will attorney. See why you should consult an attorney when writing a will. 

They Consider Legal Requirements When Writing It

Most people write a will just to indicate how their estate should be shared or distributed. Unfortunately, they hardly consider whether their will violates legal requirements in any way. You can easily write a will that doesn't conform to legal requirements if you don't hire a will attorney to help you draft it. The attorney considers what you want to do with your estate or properties and checks whether it's lawful. For instance, they check whether the law in your estate allows you to give one beneficiary or child a bigger share of the estate than the other. Without the attorney's help, you may write a will that will easily be contested.

They Help You Carefully List Your Properties

It's important to list whatever you own in the will. However, it's also good to know that you may sometimes not need to include some of them. For instance, you shouldn't list a co-owned property in the will because it can't be entirely distributed to your heirs. You can only dispose of your share, but not the entire property. So if you jointly own some properties, you should seek legal help when drafting a will to avoid making costly mistakes. Before you list insurance policies in your will, the attorney will check whether or not there is a designated beneficiary and if the designation is irrevocable. As you list all your assets and properties in the will, involving an attorney will help you do it carefully.

They Ensure the Will Is Complete

You may write a will quickly and assume it's complete. However, it may not be complete if you forget to include someone important in your life. It's usually important to include all your legal heirs in the will. But you may sometimes deliberately exclude a stepchild or an heir who neglected you. In this case, a will attorney will help you know whether a will is still complete when an heir is excluded. The attorney will help you choose a guardian if you have minor children since your will won't be considered complete without them.

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