Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Wills

We have (after several years of marriage and children) finally instructed a lawyer to prepare our wills. This was something that should have been done years ago (i.e. when we were married and updated as children arrived).

As morbid as the subject of death is, there is some comfort in knowing that if anything happens to us, arrangements are in place that will ensure that the children will be properly cared for and most of the estate assets will be safe guarded for them.

One interesting feature of the estate planing exercise was looking at the effect of assets that would fall outside the estate such as properties held as joint tenants and life insurance policies. For certain purposes, having assets in the name of one spouse only gives greater flexibility when it comes to providing for children and other dependants.

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