Your Will Is About More Than What Happens When You Die

When people think about making a Will, the conversation often starts with one thing:

Who gets what when I die?
Who gets the house?
What happens to the savings?
Who receives the investments?
What happens to the family business?

These are important questions.

But a Will can be about much more than dividing up your assets. It's also about creating clarity around your wishes, making responsibilities easier to understand and helping the people around you know what you intended. Because when someone dies, their family isn't only dealing with the loss of a person.

They're often dealing with a long list of decisions at a time when making decisions can be difficult.

Your family shouldn't have to guess

Imagine losing someone close to you and then having to work out what they would have wanted.

Who should deal with their affairs?
What happens to their belongings?
Who should be responsible for looking after their children?
What were their wishes?
Where are their important documents?
What accounts, investments, insurance policies or debts did they have?

Some of these questions may have straightforward answers. Others may not.

A Will can't remove the emotional difficulty of losing someone, but having your wishes documented can provide a degree of clarity when your family may need it most.

It's not just about who gets your assets

A Will can deal with more than financial assets.

Depending on your circumstances and the legal advice you receive, it can set out important wishes and appointments relating to your estate.

For parents, one of the most important considerations may be what happens to their children if both parents die.

For business owners, there may be ownership interests that need to be considered as part of wider succession and estate planning.

There may also be personal belongings that have significant sentimental value, even if they aren't financially valuable.

The family photograph.
A piece of jewellery.
A collection you've spent years building.
Something handmade by a grandparent.

These things may not be worth much financially, but they can mean a great deal to the people left behind.

Some of your biggest assets may be complicated

As your financial life becomes more complex, so can your estate.

You might own a home. Have savings and investments. Have KiwiSaver. Own shares in a company. Have a family trust. Have business interests. Have insurance policies. Have debts or guarantees. Perhaps you've been through a relationship change or blended your family.

The more moving parts there are, the more important it can be to understand how they fit together.

A Will is one part of that picture.

It doesn't operate in isolation from other legal, financial and ownership arrangements.

That's why estate planning can involve working with your solicitor, accountant, financial adviser and other professional advisers to make sure the different pieces work together appropriately.

What about your business?

For business owners, estate planning can become particularly important.

Your business may be one of the most valuable assets you own.

But its value isn't necessarily as simple as the balance of a bank account.

You may own shares in a company alongside other shareholders.

There may be agreements about what happens if a shareholder dies.

There may be business lending or personal guarantees.

Your family may depend on the value of your business ownership.

Your business partners may need certainty about what happens to the shares.

This is why business succession planning and estate planning can be closely connected.

A Will may form part of the overall plan, but it needs to be considered alongside the company's structure, shareholders' agreements and other arrangements.

What would your family need to know?

A useful way to think about estate planning isn't simply:

“What do I want to leave behind?”

It's also:

“What would the people around me need to know?”

Where are your important documents?
Who needs to be contacted?
What assets do you have?
What debts exist?
What businesses or investments are you involved in?
What insurance do you have?
Who knows about your financial arrangements?

You don't necessarily need to put all of this information into your Will.

But making sure the right people know where important information can be found can make an enormous difference.

Estate planning can change as your life changes

A Will isn't necessarily something you create once and forget about.

Life changes.

You buy a home. You have children. Your children grow up. You start or sell a business. You get married or separate. You acquire new assets. Your financial circumstances change. Family relationships change. Your wishes may change too.

That's why it's worth periodically checking whether your Will and wider estate planning arrangements still reflect your circumstances.

A document that was appropriate ten years ago may no longer reflect the life you've built today.

It isn't about expecting the worst

Talking about what happens after you die can feel uncomfortable.

That's understandable.

But estate planning isn't about expecting something to happen tomorrow.

It's about making decisions while you can.

It's about having conversations that might otherwise be left to someone else.

And it's about reducing the number of questions your family may have to answer at an already difficult time.

You won't be there to explain your decisions.

Your Will and your wider estate planning arrangements can help provide that clarity.

What have you built?

We've spent this month talking about the things people build over a lifetime.

Income. A home. A family. A business. Savings. Investments. Relationships. Security.

A future.

Eventually, part of protecting what you've built is thinking about what happens to it when you're no longer here.

Not just who receives it.

But how clearly your wishes are understood, who is responsible for dealing with things, and whether the people you leave behind know what to do.

Because estate planning isn't only about what happens to your assets.

It's also about making things a little clearer for the people who have to carry on without you.

If you haven't reviewed your Will or wider estate planning arrangements for some time, it may be worth speaking with your solicitor or other appropriate professional advisers to check that they still reflect your circumstances and wishes. At New Vision Financial Services, we can also help you identify how your insurance, financial arrangements and business interests fit into the wider conversation, working alongside your legal and accounting advisers where appropriate.

Nimalka Perera
Business Development Manager
New Vision Financial Services

Plan your future and let us help you have peace of mind along the way.