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Don’t put off writing a will

On Behalf of | Sep 30, 2019 | Wills

People often put off writing a will until something happens that makes the need for one more obvious than it has ever been before, and they wonder why they haven’t done anything for decades. They scramble to get everything together.

For instance, someone may be diagnosed with a terminal illness. They never really thought much about the end, but now they cannot avoid thinking about it. They decide it’s finally time to write that will.

This is a risky way to approach estate planning, and it’s not a good idea to write a will at the last minute for a few different reasons. You’re far better off to do it while you’re still relatively healthy mentally and physically.

For example, did you know that in 2015 47.5 million people in the world were living with dementia? Every year, approximately 7.7 million more people join this group. Even when you just look at the United States, you still have around 5 million people living with the disorder at any given time.

This is important because your heirs, if they do not agree with your estate plan, may cite your dementia as a reason to contest the will. They may dispute whether you were in the right frame of mind when you wrote it. Does the will actually reflect what you wanted your estate plan to do? Whether it does or not, if you had already been diagnosed with dementia when you wrote the will, they may decide to challenge it.

To help things go smoothly and easily for your family, take the time to look into all of your legal estate planning options before it’s too late.

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