WHY YOU NEED A WILL

You’ve worked hard to build your estate. You deserve the right to determine who will receive your assets after your death. This is where a Will comes in. A Will is a legal document that allows you to direct how your estate will be administered and distributed. By exercising your privilege of making a Will, you can accomplish numerous personal and financial objectives.

If you die without a Will, a state court will choose an administrator for your estate or, if needed, a guardian for your minor children. The court’s choice may or may not be individuals whom you would have selected. The court-appointed administrator will distribute your property according to the state intestacy laws, regardless of any desires you may have expressed during life. Your children, grandchildren, or other heirs who are minors at the time of your death may automatically receive their shares of your estate outright when they reach the age of majority, whether or not they are experienced enough to manage their inheritances wisely.

A Will is the cornerstone of estate planning. If you don’t have a Will, we strongly recommend that you make one. If you do have a Will, you should review it regularly to make sure it is still meeting your needs. Once your Will is written, you may exercise the right to revoke and replace the document at any time, for any reason.

Through a properly drawn Will, you can:

CHOOSING AN EXECUTOR

When you write your Will, you’ll need to name an executor or personal representative. Your executor will administer your estate and distribute your assets to your beneficiaries, as you’ve directed in your Will.

You can choose almost anyone who is an adult and is legally competent to serve as executor — your spouse, sibling, friend, business associate, or financial or legal advisor, for example. You can also name a corporate executor, such as a bank trust department.

People who have never served as an executor frequently don’t know what they are getting into when they agree to serve and subsequently find themselves overwhelmed by the duties required of them. So, although you have wide latitude in whom you can select, you may want to give serious consideration to naming a professional as your executor or naming a professional to serve as co-executor with a family member or friend.


The terms executor and personal representative are interchangeable and vary from state to state. The duties and responsibilities, however, are basically the same. An executor generally: