What NOT to put in Will

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what not to have in a will at DuckDuckGo

 

Ummm...the lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven" or "Highway to Hell"?

Seriously, what's the point of this post?

 

Jody, Do you have a question/s for the volunteers of this forum?

 

There are all kinds of things that ought not go into a will, and that's going to vary due to different state laws and the individual circumstances of the person making the will. It would not serve much purpose to try to list them all here. The better question for a person making a will is what are the things that they need to put in the will. If the person limits themselves to only that which is needed then he or she is unlikely to have anything in there that they shouldn't. The person making the will is best served asking an estate planning attorney what is neeed for a will in his/her state and given his/her circumstances.

It should be obvious, but putting anything in the will that has nothing to do with the purpose of the will should be left out. So statements about how the person hated someone else or disapproved of how someone else lives their life are among the things that should be left out.

 

One common mistake is when someone bequeaths a retirement account, a bank account, or an insurance policy etc. and forgets that it already has a named beneficiary.

And if you intend to disinherit someone, you should leave them a dollar to show that they were taken into consideration.

 

Unless the insurance policy (or whatever) lists the estate as the beneficiary, the payout isn't controlled by anything the will says.

 

True, but it can cause confusion and angst for the heirs.

 

I disagree.

The only reason to do the $1.00 thing is to avoid an argument by the excluded heir that the testator forgot about him/her. That can be accomplished just as easily by mentioning the excluded heir and a statement along the lines of: "I am intentionally making no provision for any bequest to [name of excluded heir]." Frankly, even that is unnecessary unless there is some state with an oddball law on the subject.

On the other hand, giving an excluded heir some amount of money (even if it's nominal) bestows upon that person a whole lot of rights that he/she might not otherwise have, including the right to receive and object to accountings.

 

I recommend avoiding a tontine, unless you want to end up in a British murder mystery.

 

Copyright aside, why not? I mean, other than being superfluous, and most people valuing clarity over whimsical asides their legal documents.

 

In most states that would not be necessary. It would be sufficient to have a statement in the will that the person was intentionally left out. In my experience, people seem to me more offended by being left a $1 than being left nothing. The key is making your wishes explicit. Just not mentioning the person at all is what will invite will contests.