Advantages of Writing A Will

You know people generally have this belief that when you ask them to write a Will, you want to kill them. So, men are mindful of the wife that asks them to write a will and vice versa. Really, this has more to do with the low level of understanding of what a Will can do for you or rather the advantages of a Will.

When this writer was younger, she knew a neighbor that was quite elderly and had two wives with a large number of children. The neighbor’s sister had advised him to write a Will considering that he had children from two wives so there would be no issue after his demise. Guess what this man did? He shouted at his sister “You have plans to kill me, right? Which of them (my wives) have you connived with?”.

The truth is, that response was from a place of ignorance. No one wants you dead simply because they ask you to write a Will. On the contrary, it is for the sanity of your household after your demise.

Well, there are numerous advantages, but the writer will only write a few.

One of the major advantages of writing a Will is it prevents the problem that comes with intestacy. Intestacy occurs when a person dies without writing a Will. When this happens, the person’s property (estate) is usually governed by the customs of the deceased. The problem with this is, that the person you would have preferred to benefit from your “estate” may not, while the person you do not want to might end up end with it. For example, Mr. Jide, a widower, has four children who probably live in the United States. He lives alone in his house with let us say a housemaid who attends to his needs. His children and their spouses have probably not seen him in years but however, send allowances for his upkeep. Mr. Jide also has a nephew from one of his elder sisters who are also with him and has been keeping him company for years. When Mr. Jide gets diagnosed with a terminal illness at an early stage, it is still this same nephew that is with him to assist the housemaid. He overtime grows fond of this nephew and for some reason believes that he should do something for this boy.

Long illustration, I know, but peradventure, Mr. Jide is to write a Will, do you think he would want his nephew to have something? I think he would. However, if he fails to write one, for any reason whatsoever, it would just be a mere wish. Customarily, when the elders of that family want to share Jide’s estate after his burial, it is his children that would come first, and not his nephew. It is only logical.

The second illustration is, that Mr. Jide might prefer one of his children to inherit a particular property. If he fails to write a Will clearly stating his decisions in respect of that property, it becomes difficult for the child to be allocated that property under customary law. This further underlines the importance of a will.

Another advantage of writing a Will is that the testator is able to appoint people he knows and can trust to carry out the instruction he put in the will. These people are called “Executors”. If an individual pass without writing a will, he by this inaction waives the right to appoint the managers of his property passes with him. It is common practice for the loved ones of a person who dies intestate to apply to the high court for Letters of Administration. This letter gives the statutory administrators the power to administer the property of the dead man.

Imagine a scenario of one of Mr. Jide’s administrators taking the properties and selling them and not using the proceeds for the benefit of those Mr. Jide would have really loved his money to be spent on. The pain.

Another advantage is that the deceased has the opportunity to use his property for something totally beyond the imagination of any of his family members. Mr. Jide for one can write in his Will that a certain amount of money in a particular account be given to a particular orphanage home, or used to school all the young boys in the street where he lived. Charity. This would never have crossed the mind of any of his family members. You see.

Writing a Will also helps your loved ones know how many properties you had in your lifetime. The houses, landed properties, the various bank account numbers and their balances, and the shares of different companies. There are situations, where an individual dies and their spouses and children are unaware of the bank their parent was banking with. Even their spouses would not even know. The worst part the bank would not alert the family. I mean, how would they? They are not even in the knowledge that their customer is dead. So, the money remains locked away in the account, accruing interests.

If Mr. Jide has three bank accounts let us say, Sharp Bank Plc, Upward Bank Ltd, and Progressive Bank Plc, and his children are only aware of the first two. You do not expect the Progressive Bank Plc to start making public announcements looking for Mr. Jide, as he has not deposited any money in his account in the past six months. Normally what people do is bring an application before the Court against all banks in Nigeria asking the banks to show cause in court that Mr. Jide does not have an account with them, and if he does, to state the exact amount. This is stressful, please.

Same with properties, imagine a woman having a 50 ft by 100 ft piece of land somewhere in Ikorodu and none of her family members are aware. At her demise and without a Will stating the same, that property is lost to her loved ones for good. Strangers can take it after waiting years without seeing anyone come upon the land.
In writing a Will, you are required to list all your properties at the time of writing it.