Clauses to Include in a Will or Living Trust

While everyone needs individualized legal advice on what language their estate planning documents should contain, the following are some of the most common and important clauses which should be discussed with the lawyer preparing your will or living trust.

• Revocation: Previously written wills or trusts should be revoked to avoid the court intervening later to decide which parts of certain documents should be followed.
• Disaster Clause: This clause helps plan what will happen to your assets if both you and your spouse or main beneficiary die at the same time.
• Appointment of personal representative: While doing estate planning you will need to name someone as your Personal Representative who will be in charge of distributing the assets in your estate.
• Guardianship of children: If you have minor children, it is very important that you name someone as their guardian in the event that you or you and your spouse die.
• Spendthrift Provision: This clause prevents the beneficiary of your assets from transferring their rights to those assets. A spendthrift provision is often used to protect assets from creditors.
• Total failure: Total failure would occur if all heirs of your estate died before inheriting your assets. This is an extremely rare situation but, without a total failure clause, your estate would go to the government in this circumstance.  A total failure clause allows you to instead designate an organization of your choice for the estate to be given to.

If you have questions about what should be in your estate planning documents to ensure all of your wishes are met and your assets are distributed exactly as you desire, contact our office at (941) 906-1231 to speak with an experienced estate planning attorney.