What Should a Young Woman’s Will Look Like?
A growing number of voices in the media are encouraging women not to fear aging. During the pandemic lockdown, celebrities posted images of themselves on social media, letting their hair grow in gray instead of gloating that they could afford to have their masked hair dressers come to their houses to touch up the celebrities’ roots in their palatial bathrooms. Almost every week, journalists who, years ago, documented their journeys balancing work responsibilities with caring for their young children declare in their latest columns that, while they will always have fond memories of their children’s infancy, they do not miss being young. In today’s image-obsessed world, it sometimes seems like the way to show that you are no longer deluding yourself into thinking that you are still young is to do something performative, like posting a video of yourself pouring champagne and wishing yourself a happy 38th birthday, and then reading out loud a letter that your grandmother wrote to her sister when she was 38, fretting about her old age. Instead, you should do something that few people will see, especially in the short term, but which will make a difference to everyone in your life. You should write or revise your estate plan, and the most painless way to do this is with the help of a Dade City estate planning lawyer.
Your Will Should Account for Your Present Circumstances and for Your Future
There is no limit to the number of times you can rewrite your will, but until you do, your current will remains valid. Likewise, you are never too young to write a will. On average, women have a longer life expectancy than men, so it follows that, if you are a young woman, you should write your will in a way that you would be content with the probate court following its provisions decades from now, when so much in your life has changed.
If you are married, your spouse will automatically become the legal owner of property you own jointly. You should write your will so that it accounts both for you outliving your husband and for him outliving you. In other words, you should list your requests about your marital property, as if you will continue to own it as a widow. Meanwhile, you can leave some or all of your property to your husband in your will, accounting for a scenario where you predecease him. You should also list a successor beneficiary for his share of the estate. If you do not, there will be room for dispute about what happens to his share of the estate.
If your children are minors, include provisions in your will about who should have custody of the children if both parents die before the children reach adulthood. If you are unmarried and don’t have children, you still need a will. No matter your family status, you as the testator of your will have the final decision about who inherits your property.
Contact a Florida Estate Planning Attorney About Ladies Who Aren’t Trying to Impress Anyone
A probate attorney can help you draft your will, no matter how young you are. Contact The Law Office of Laurie R. Chane in Dade City, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
floridabar.org/public/consumer/pamphlet026/#:~:text=If%20the%20decedent%20did%20not,serve%20as%20a%20personal%20representative.
