Yes, you need a will—even if you drive a Honda and the closest you’ve been to a mansion is the one you cleaned in college. We know movies like Knives Out and Easy Money make it look like wills are only for people with serious money, but that’s just not the case.

The reality is, you will die and someone will get your stuff—unless you’re immortal (and we’re pretty sure you’re not). But who decides which someone gets what—and how messy the process is for your family—comes down to whether or not you left clear instructions.

And that’s why a will matters—because of the people you love. They’re the ones who give your will meaning.

There are several types of wills, but they all boil down to the same basic document that’s the cornerstone of estate planning. A simple will (yeah, that’s the legal term for the most basic kind of will) is what we’ll focus on here because it’s all most people need to set up a solid estate plan.

We’ll break down exactly what a will can do to protect you, your family and your stuff so you’ll never have to wonder, Why do I need a will? again.

 

Why Having a Will Is Important 

A will (aka a legal will or last will and testament) is the document you use to spell out what you want to happen to your stuff after you leave this world. A will can resolve issues as big as dividing the family farm among five siblings, as small as making sure your nephew gets the pocketknife he admires, and as important as who takes care of your kids after you’re gone.

Without a will, your family is left vulnerable to whatever the state decides to do.

 

What a Will Does for You

Basically, a will gives you control. (Control freaks, rejoice!) A will lets you mold your legacy. It’s the tool that gives you a say in how the things and people you love are provided for when you’re gone. Without it, you hand those rights over to the state.

A will explains exactly what you want to happen with the things you own and the people who depend on you—so your family has a clear game plan to follow as they handle your affairs.

Here’s a glimpse of what a will does:

• It lets you appoint someone you trust to be the executor and carry out your wishes.
• It takes away the potential drama and court battles with family members fighting over your assets by laying out who the beneficiaries (the people who get your stuff) are and what they get.
• It lets you appoint a guardian for your dependents.

Quick FYI: There are a few things a will doesn’t control, like life insurance policies and investment accounts (think 401(k)s and IRAs). These have designated beneficiaries attached to them that you name when you set them up.

Save 10% on your will with the RAMSEY10 promo code.

Now let’s take a closer look at three specific things a will does.

A will lets you give good gifts.

Choosing who gets what is one of the most important and well-known parts of making a will. But there’s more to think about than you might realize.

Money

If you have some money in the bank, you can use your will to leave a legacy for specific people and groups.

Do you have a niece who wants to go to college to be an engineer? You can set money aside for her tuition. Does your son own a house? You can give him money to pay off his mortgage.

Or maybe there’s a charity you want to support even after you’re gone. A will lets you do that too. You can leave a set dollar amount or a percentage of your assets to the charity or group of your choice.

And hey, maybe your loved ones are a bunch of greedy gold diggers. (We know that kind of thing never crops up in families.) You can just go ahead and leave everything to a charity. Problem solved! (Just kidding—kind of.)

Personal Items

Most people want to give their most treasured belongings to close family members and friends who’ll cherish them too.

For example, if you bought a necklace while on vacation with your friend, you can leave the necklace to her in your will to let her know you valued that time together. And because you specifically named her to receive it, your sister Rose, who was not invited on that trip for a reason, can’t swoop in and take it.

You can also use your will to stomp out potential arguments before they start. If you know both of your brothers want your ’69 Chevelle, your will should clearly state which one of them will get the car. Or you can even leave the car to a third party to keep your brothers from getting jealous of each other. Blessed are the peacemakers!

A will helps your family grieve. 

The idea of your family fighting over your stuff may hit close to home. Or you may be thinking, My family? That would never happen! But it might.

Grief is one of the hardest human experiences and could cause your loved ones to be unable to act like themselves or make good decisions. The extra stress could make them more likely to take out their pain on each other, even if they don’t mean to.

Why put them through that heartache?

Your will makes the decisions for them—so all your family has to do is focus on supporting each other as they grieve.

A will protects your children.

There are plenty of decisions you don’t want the state to make for you. One thing you definitely want to decide for yourself is what happens with your kids: who gets custody and who stewards any money for them until they’re adults.

Parents who die without a will have no control over where their children end up. Sure, the court might pick your brother who you would’ve picked anyway—or they might give your kids to your rich sister because she has more rooms in her house because she’s married to that narcissistic cardiologist.

Even if you’re married, you can’t count on your spouse being there to take care of the kids because there’s a chance you could both pass away at the same time. (That’s why your spouse needs a will too.)

A will is the only way to leave a plan for your children’s care. With a will, you can name someone to be their guardian, and you can set up a testamentary trust to say who will manage their inheritance until they’re grown.

 

Just make sure to talk to potential guardians first. Caring for your children would be a big responsibility, and you want them to go to someone who’s prepared for it.

If you’re a parent with children under 18 who live at home or if you have an adult child who depends on you due to a permanent disability, you need a legal will. It doesn’t matter if you’re a single or married parent: You still need a will.

 

What Type of Will Do I Need?

For most people, the best type of will is usually a simple will (for either individuals or married couples). It’s the most common type lawyers write up, and it’s also available online. If you go with an online will maker, make sure the document was crafted by an attorney for your state-specific laws. (We recommend Mama Bear Legal Forms—their online will checks all the boxes.)

Although all types of wills do basically the same job, some of the other types are considered less legally sound. Here are the main kinds of wills people use to pass on their assets:

• Simple will: This is the kind of will we recommend for most people since it’s flexible and covers most situations without any special clauses.
• Holographic will or handwritten will: Not all states recognize holographic wills. But in the ones that do, a witness signature isn’t required.
• Mirror will: This is the best type of will for married couples. It makes sure they can control what happens to their property while also giving a surviving spouse freedom to amend the will after the other spouse has died.
• Joint will and mutual will: Both of these types of wills are designed to help married couples with estate planning, but we don’t recommend them because they don’t have the same flexibility for a surviving spouse as a mirror will.

 

When to Make Your Will With a Lawyer

Only a small percentage of folks need a lawyer to help them put their estate plan together. But here are the circumstances where you’d want an attorney to make sure all the little details are fully taken care of:  

• Your estate is worth more than $1 million.
• You have a complicated family situation or other complex issues.
• You own a business.
• You own property in multiple states.

These same circumstances also indicate you may need to consider a trust versus a will. An estate lawyer can help you figure it out.

 

Does My Spouse Need a Will?

Would you wear one sock and one shoe to run a marathon? Let’s hope not! (You wouldn’t want to see the faces of the rescue crew who got that call.) A married couple who only has a will for one spouse is in a similar situation. So yeah, yYes!our other half absolutely needs a will too. The easiest way to set up a will for your spouse is to make a mirror will.

Mirror Wills

A mirror will (also known as a reciprocal will or simple will for a married couple) is almost like a duplicate of your own will. The main reasons to get a mirror will are:

• To let your spouse plan who gets their stuff after they’re gone (usually you and your kids)
• To add flexibility to future estate planning for the surviving spouse after one ofif one of you should dies
• To save money, because you usually get a discount on the second document

Keep in mind, a mirror will is not an exact copy of your own willyour own will—t. There are slight differences. —Aan obvious one isbeing that the testator and beneficiary are reversed, meaning the will is signed by your spouse, and not you, and you are the one who inherits. With mirror wills, there’s also room for small differences about specific pieces of property. F—for example, your wife (you’re a man in this example) wants to give Great- Aunt Hazel’s brooch to Cousin Beth and you don’t mind since you’re not in the habit of wearing brooches.

 

When to Update Your Will

You need a legal will the moment you become an adult and not a second later. But there are lots of life events that call for updating that sucker. Here’s a list of common ones:

• Getting married
• Having kids (or your minor children becoming adults)
• Going through a divorce
• Death (of anyone named in the will, like a beneficiary or executor)
• Moving (new state, new rules)
• Buying or selling a business
• Retirement (woo-hoo!)
• Facing new circumstances (family disagreements, addictions, etc.)
• Simply changing your mind (You know what? Shenise doesn’t deserve my special edition Nikes after all.)

If you have a will and one of those things comes up, you can change your will by writing a new one or creating a codicil (an added document that makes a small change to your will).

While we’re on the subject of keeping things current, make sure you update designated beneficiaries on things like life insurance policies and investment accounts as well.

 

What Happens if You Don’t Have a Will

If the benefits of a will for your family and your peace of mind aren’t enough to convince you to get one, let’s talk about what happens if you die without a will.

It’s not a pretty picture. If you die without a will (also called dying intestate), your loved ones will be grieving, scared—and headed for probate court, where the state will decide everything.

Probate is the legal process of distributing your stuff to the right people, paying your debts, and handling other legal matters after you die. Having a will makes the process much cleaner and faster. But when you die without a will, you haven’t put your after-death wishes in writing—and that means the courts settle your estate for you. Yikes!  

While each state has its own laws about dying intestate, most courts will give half your stuff to your spouse and half to your kids. Seems like a pretty fair approach, right? But things get more complex (and more emotional for loved ones) if you have children from a previous marriage or if you and your current partner aren’t married. If you’re single and don’t have any kids, the court will divide everything evenly between your parents and siblings—even if you didn’t get along with them or want that to happen. (We know that’s not fun to talk about—but it’s how the law works.)

Going through probate without a will is also when your family is most likely to end up in legal battles over your estate. If one relative objects to how things are getting handled, the whole family could spend months tied up in court. That gets really expensive.

And here’s a real kicker for you parents of young children: Without a will, the court will decide who raises your kids.

Don’t let the state make those decisions for you. Instead, make a will that’s clear about what you want to happen.

 

The Bottom Line: Everyone Needs a Will 

If 100% of people need a will and most people still don’t have one, that means there must be some pretty big roadblocks holding people back.

The fact is, 76% of Americans don’t have a will.¹ Here are the top three reasons why:

• They believe they don’t need one in this stage of life.
• They don’t have time to make one.
• They can’t afford one.

Add in the fact that making a will is emotional, and it’s easy to see why a lot of people skip it entirely. (Admit it—you probably saw at least one of your own excuses on that list.) But the good news is, we just knocked out the first excuse—and we’re about to knock out the other two!

If you go with a simple will from an online will maker, your will won’t cost more than what the average family spends on entertainment in a month. And if you go with Mama Bear Legal Forms, you can get it done in the time it takes you to watch an episode of your favorite TV show, With Love, Meghan. (Just kidding. About Meghan’s show being your favorite.) In only a few minutes, you’ll get a legitimate, legally binding will according to the laws of your state—along with powers of attorney.

So, now the question really is, why don’t you have a will?

 

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