Legal Services Calgary – Insurance and Wills

Two common reasons that people give for not doing wills are: (1) I’m not old enough to need a will; and (2) I don’t have anything of value to leave. My response to the first claim is that you never know when you’re going to die. Sure, it’s not likely that a person in her twenties is going to die, but you never know. Think car accidents, house fires, and crazed gunmen.

My response to the second claim is that you have no idea what you’ll be worth when you die. If you die in a car accident due to someone else’s negligence, then your estate may be able to bring a wrongful death claim. If you were poor in life, you might be rich in death. That being said, it is not highly likely that your estate will get such a windfall.

If you have a young family, in particular, you may wish to take steps to ensure that you are able to leave something to those who financially depend on you. That’s where insurance comes in. There are different types of insurance: term life, whole or universal life, mortgage insurance, etc. Depending on your situation, one type of insurance may be more appropriate than another. An http://www.russweninger.com/”>insurance advisor can help you make that decision.

It’s important to keep in mind that insurance funds don’t typically form part of your estate. If you name your spouse, for example, as your insurance policy beneficiary, he or she will not typically have to probate a will in order to receive those insurance funds. However, if you name your estate as your beneficiary, and your spouse is listed as the sole beneficiary in your will, he or she will have to probate your will in order to receive the insurance money.

Timing may well be an issue. Probate tends to take several months or even years to resolve. If your spouse financially depends on you, having that person named as an insurance policy beneficiary will help to ensure that he or she is able to access the insurance money relatively quickly in the event of your death. However, there may be other situations in which it makes more sense to leave the money to your estate. For this reason, it often makes sense to write a will in conjunction with the purchase of life insurance.