Avoid Will Delay in Estate Planning
A dear client sadly passed away leaving a wife and two step-children behind. He was American and the wife is Filippino. Unfortunately, due to superstition, she avoided writing their will and was very hesitant about signing the documents. Thankfully, I managed to change her mind.
I persuaded them to write their documents as avoiding will delay can be very detrimental. I also encouraged a family (living trust) whereby assets were placed that can be distributed as soon as needed by a named beneficiary.
John died 6 months later. All documents were in place to claim his assets, the will proceeds took 17 months to finally distribute as the courts needed clarification on named persons. Further reason to not delay writing your wills. The family trust was relied on to collect money for the family and was distributed as soon as requested.
The delay on the will was that they were married in Samoa so the HK courts wanted clarification on the marriage certificate. This had to go via Beijing to Samoa then back to Beijing back to HK.
As you can imagine, the family needed money immediately to continue with school fees and monthly maintenance costs – rent, food, utilities. If John had not set up the trust with the wills, the family would have experienced financial hardship. It is always worthwhile to consider the contingency arrangements that need to be put in place to ensure that your loved ones do not experience a financial gap.
The proceeds of the will contents also went into the trust so that the next beneficiary (named loved ones) can receive without time delays or additional costs.
