Many times in this space we have told you that if you do not have a Will your property is distributed according to state law. This should be reason enough for you to visit an estate planning attorney and get a Will. However, if it is not, then there is another issue with not having a Will that you should be aware of.
Without a Will, you also do not get to decide who will be in charge of your estate. You do not get to decide who administers your estate and makes sure that the people who are supposed to get your property are the people who actually get it. The courts have to decide that and your family can fight over who the court should appoint. That happened recently in the estate of deceased rapper, Nate Dogg. He did not have a Will and his family disagreed over who should be in charge of administering the estate. His children wanted a professional administrator, but his mother and his wife wanted to administer the estate themselves. The mother and wife have recently given up the fight. It still has not been determined, however, how the estate will actually be distributed and by whom.
Make sure that you are the person who decides not only who gets your property, but who makes sure that it gets to the right people. Get an estate plan.
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