How can I pass on all my assets if anything should happen to me?

St1mpMeister

I just realised while cycling home the other day (where you risk your life on a daily basis) that should anything happen to me no-one apart from me knows what assets I have in total (bank accs, mortgage, website admin logins, etc).

Is creating a will the only way to ensure these get passed onto my next of kin should anything happen to me?

What would happen to them if I got knocked down today (not having a will)??

Spanish Eyes

St1mpMeister wrote: »

I just realised while cycling home the other day (where you risk your life on a daily basis) that should anything happen to me no-one apart from me knows what assets I have in total (bank accs, mortgage, website admin logins, etc).

Is creating a will the only way to ensure these get passed onto my next of kin should anything happen to me?

What would happen to them if I got knocked down today (not having a will)??

Well without a will, your assets would be distributed amongst your next of kin.

If you are single, that would firstly be to your children if any, and if none to your parents, if parents deceased then to your siblings.

If married and no will 2/3rd to your spouse and 1/3rd amongst your children. If no children then all to spouse.

It is a good question that many don't think about.

Make a will, attach details of your bank accounts/assets/wishes for burial or cremation etc. and give a trusted person your log ins for whatever you think they might need after your death. But in fairness you should select executors that you trust anyway.

If you have minor children, appoint guardians in the event that both you and spouse/partner die simultaneously.

A non marital partner is not entitled to anything if you die without making a will including them.

Be clear and precise in your will.

But above all, get a solicitor to draft your will for you. Homemade wills are fraught with problems. It doesn't cost that much really and then it's done and dusted.

jimmycrackcorm

Spanish Eyes wrote:

Be clear and precise in your will.

I've always been curious as to where peeps keep their wills?

Spanish Eyes

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I've always been curious as to where peeps keep their wills?

With their solicitor if used. Otherwise at home somewhere never to be found!

Then it's an intestacy....

coylemj

St1mpMeister wrote: »

Is creating a will the only way to ensure these get passed onto my next of kin should anything happen to me?

No. Without disclosing details of what money is in what accounts and so on, there is nothing to stop you from making out a list of your asset classes and where they can be found. So you can outline account numbers, important userids and passwords and so on and hand them in a sealed envelope to a trusted family member or friend.

But it would be no harm to also make a will.

Spanish Eyes

coylemj wrote: »

No. Without disclosing details of what money is in what accounts and so on, there is nothing to stop you from making out a list of your asset classes and where they can be found. So you can outline account numbers, important userids and passwords and so on and hand them in a sealed envelope to a trusted family member or friend.

But it would be no harm to also make a will.

Em, if someone has died, how will that work without a grant of probate/administration or indeed a will?

huskerdu

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Em, if someone has died, how will that work without a grant of probate/administration or indeed a will?

The executor administrator of the estate has the responsibility to locate all the assets. If the details are hard to find they will do some slog work to find it all by writing to banks and financial institutions.

I know of a case where a bank account came to light 2 years after the person had died, and the family only became aware of it as the buyers of the house passed on post that had arrived. This must happen a lot.

We should all make life easier on those we leave behind by making the information easy to find.

St1mpMeister

Cool, I have a bank account with a company that never posts anything in the mail, and haven't contacted me in several years as there was no need since it's all online.

If I passed away tonight, no one knows about this so I imagine it won't be recovered (unless whomever takes over my house forwards on any mail...but in all likelihood the mails will just be binned).

Another one of those things you never really think about till it's too late

Spanish Eyes

huskerdu wrote: »

The executor administrator of the estate has the responsibility to locate all the assets. If the details are hard to find they will do some slog work to find it all by writing to banks and financial institutions.

I know of a case where a bank account came to light 2 years after the person had died, and the family only became aware of it as the buyers of the house passed on post that had arrived. This must happen a lot.

We should all make life easier on those we leave behind by making the information easy to find.

That has really got nothing to do with the thread. Read the OP.

Peregrinus

St1mpMeister wrote: »

I just realised while cycling home the other day (where you risk your life on a daily basis) that should anything happen to me no-one apart from me knows what assets I have in total (bank accs, mortgage, website admin logins, etc).

Is creating a will the only way to ensure these get passed onto my next of kin should anything happen to me?

What would happen to them if I got knocked down today (not having a will)??

Making a will is unrelated to the question of identifying your assets.

Whether you make a will or not, When The Time Comes your family are going to have to identify all your assets, based on what they already know and what they can find out by going through your papers, talking to your bank and any financial adviser you may have dealt with, or making other enquiries.

Often when people make a will, at the same time they'll draw up a handy list of their principal assets, insurance policies, account numbers, etc, to be kept with the will. By the time they die, however, that list may be seriously out of date, unless they make a point of checking and updating it every year or so.

And of course if you're minded to do that, you can do it whether or not you make a will.

ooompie5

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

With their solicitor if used. Otherwise at home somewhere never to be found!

Then it's an intestacy....

What happens if a will turns up after the assets have already been distributed on an intestate basis?

Peregrinus

ooompie5 wrote: »

What happens if a will turns up after the assets have already been distributed on an intestate basis?

A mess happens, is the answer. A similar mess can arise if the assets have already been distributed on the basis of a will, and then a later-executed will turns up, providing for a different distribution.

The people who have lost out - the people who would have inherited under the newly-discovered will - can take court action to (a) try to recover asses from beneficiaries who received them and/or (b) try to seek compensation from the executor/administrator who failed to discover the will. Recovery of assets may not be possible if, for example, they have already been spent/consumed, or if the court rules that it would be inequitable. Recovery of compensation from the executor/adminstrator depends on showing that they were in breach of their duties, which may not be the case if they made reasonable enquiries and investigations at the time, and did not find the newly-discovered will. In addition, depending on how much time has elapsed since the distribution of assets, the claim may be resisted on the grounds that it is out of time.

The lesson: If you make a will, make sure that the people who need to know that you have made a will do know it, and they know where the will is kept. And, if you make a new will, destroy the old one. At most, there should only be one will to be found - the one you want to be executed.