1. Your Will is Much More Than a Document
Your Will refers officially to your financial possessions, but on a deeper level, it's really about your family.
Therefore, you should carefully consider what's important to you from a family perspective when deciding about the allocation of your assets.
As much as the technical phrasing of your documents is critical for their smooth execution after 120, receiving advice and thinking through likely family scenarios is a critical component in making sure your Will maintains the unity of your family and doesn't create tension or become a basis for dispute between family members when you're not around anymore.
Here are a few informative points to know about, discuss – on a cup of coffee and calm atmosphere - and take care of:
1. Married Couples
Although there may be cases in which this isn't practical - such as a second marriage with separate children - most married couples will usually want their share of the estate to go to their spouse in full.
2. Trusting Your Spouse
Some will want to restrict their spouses' ability to change their will in the future, based on the fear that their children may be deprived of their share in the estate should the surviving spouse decide to remarry an untrustworthy and manipulative person.
Although this concern is totally understandable, it may be noted that practically preventing a manipulative individual from diverting assets is almost impossible. Moreover, a clause restricting your spouse may end up locking them into a situation in which they won't be able to change their will even though there is an acute and real need to change for it!
Hence most couples do not restrict each other and trust their spouses' integrity and judgement to take care of their children when they won't be around anymore.
3. Minor Children
If you have minor children you'll want to think about who you'd want to be their guardian should a tragedy happen to both of you c"v.
A lot of couples get "stuck" getting to a decision regarding this point.
Two tips that can help you make a decision and are key to remember in this context are that:
4. No One is Perfect
(A) You may not be perfect, but you're the most perfect and best parents your children will ever have!!
No one will be able properly fill the void should you not be around c"v. So whoever you write in as guardian of your young children, you're only deciding on the "second best" in the good case.
(B) Nominating a guardian for young children will be relevant only in an extremely rare scenario in which you both wouldn't be around c"v. The fact that this decision is most probably not going to be implemented anyway, reduces the weight of it to some extent.
5. 25 is the New 18
From a legal perspective, the default in Israel is that 18 year olds are considered adults (not funny!).
That being said, your teenage - or even early 20s - adolescent may not be able to handle a large inheritance, or be in a risk to waste it on a Ferrari, expensive post army trip around the world or a silly risky investment.
Many parents will thus allow their children to control their share of the inheritance only at the minimum age of 25 or upon their marriage (the earlier of the two), and in the meantime have an older responsible sibling or relative keep it for them until then.
6. Are some of your children married?
If you've spent significant amounts on weddings or helped your married children buy real estate, you may want to allocate a sum of money in your Will to be distributed towards those who aren't married yet in order to make sure they are not deprived of it.
Additionally, you can add a clause that will allow the unmarried children to continue living in your house, free of charge, until they marry (or reach a certain age), thus preventing potential dispute between the siblings, should some of them want to sell it beforehand.
7. Keep it Simple
Try to refrain from sophisticated calculations, index related sums , appraisals of property or any other provision that may complicate the probate of your Will after 120.
Remember that your Will be practically implemented at a time when no one will be able to ask you any more what you actually meant…
You want your will to be simple, concise, accurate, clear with straightforward provisions that'll make it as easy as possible for your heirs to distribute the estate, make the best of it and move on with their lives.