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All American adults have a significant power right at their fingertips, but surveys reveal that the majority do not use it. What is this illusive power, and why do so many fail to exercise it? The power is to execute a will to direct the distribution of assets after your lifetime.

The reasons people choose not to create a will are many and varied. Some think they don’t need a will because they don’t have significant assets. Others say they have plans in place that will determine where their assets go—such as a trust, beneficiary designations for proceeds of insurance policies and retirement plans, or “pay on death” directives for bank and brokerage accounts. However, a large segment of the population acknowledges that they simply have not made it a priority.

Regardless of what other provisions are in place to handle the distribution of your assets, the fact remains that it is prudent to consult with your legal and financial advisors to create and execute your will as a central part of your total estate planning. Here are three of the many reasons to make a will:

1. Name a guardian for your minor children. If there is no surviving parent, a court will need to appoint a guardian for a minor child’s care. You can take the guess work out of this process by naming the person or persons you trust to care for your children in your will. Courts give great deference to wishes expressed in a will naming a guardian.
2. Provide for distribution of assets you may have forgotten about or that you acquire in the future. Life is busy and, hard as you may try, things can slip through the cracks. Your will can serve to “round up” assets that will not be otherwise distributed—even make them “pour over” into a trust you have set up—to be sure they go where you want them to go.
3. Make sure your will, and not that of the state you live in, prevails. Each state, in effect, has a “will” in the form of laws that determine how your assets are distributed if you have not done so. These laws typically provide only for the passing of property to relatives. If you want to remember a special friend or make a bequest to support the work of a charitable organization like ours, whose mission is important to you and reflects your values, provisions in your will can make that happen.

If you are considering a gift to us through your estate, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss how such a gift can achieve many goals—such as perpetuating your lifetime support with a legacy gift, resourcing a particular program or project, and even choosing assets to fund your gift that could result in major income-tax savings for your heirs. We look forward to hearing from you.