Very often I encounter the answer that it is not yet the right time to draw up a will, or that a given person does not have assets to draw up a will. Indeed, some people who draw up this document are elderly, seriously ill, or wealthy individuals who wish to settle their financial affairs during their lifetime.
More and more often, however, young people, in the prime of their lives, decide to write a will, treating it as one way to manage their assets in case they suddenly die, and above all, to secure their minor children, appointing legal guardians for them so they do not end up in an orphanage. Conscious individuals who wish to secure their loved ones and pass on their assets to those they love decide to write a will.
If we do not have a will, the law imposes inheritance from which there is no appeal. An excellent example illustrating this problem is the legal situation that arose after the death of a married couple who died in a car accident, and all their assets passed to the state of New York. In their situation, where the spouses were childless, the wife was an only child, as were her parents, meaning she had no legal heirs, while the husband had two nieces. Because the husband died at the scene of the accident first, the wife then inherited the assets, but when she died a few days later in the hospital, the husband’s heirs did NOT have the right to inherit from their uncle’s wife. If the spouses had drawn up wills, the husband’s nieces would have inherited all the assets after their aunt’s death, not the state.
It should be remembered that if a person dies without leaving a will, the court appoints an administrator of the estate, who may be a family member or a state official. Such a person divides the assets among family members in accordance with applicable law. According to EPTL Sec. 4-1.1 ¬ß, known as “Intestate Succession,” the New York State Law Code will decide who and in what proportions will inherit in the following order, if they survive us:
- Spouse and children – the spouse is entitled to the first $50,000 and half the value of the estate; the remainder is divided equally among the children;
- Spouse, but no children – the spouse inherits everything;
- Children, grandchildren, but no spouse – children/grandchildren inherit everything;
- Parents – parents inherit everything;
- Siblings: inherit everything in equal parts;
- Nieces; nephews: inherit everything in equal parts from deceased siblings;
- No spouse, children, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, nieces (children of deceased sisters and brothers): then the closest relatives are considered in the division of assets;
- No cousins (coming after grandparents): the assets will pass to the state of New York
