Will substitutes have been getting more and more popular these days. Do you know what a will substitute is?Are these things actually substitutes or just supplements? You may want to know more as you plan your Palm Beach estate.
Will Substitutes
- Do you know what a will substitute is?
- In short, people are sick of probate so they have found ways to opt out of it by consulting an experienced Palm Beach probate attorney.
- What are some examples of will substitutes?
- Testamentary Trusts and Pour Over Wills
- Pay on Death (POD) Accounts
- Transfer on Death (TOD) Property
- Life Insurance (assuming the estate of the decedent is not the beneficiary)
Can you think of any others?
- These are often referred to, as will substitutes because they can help a piece of property avoid probate.
- Palm Beach probate litigators know that these can be great time and money savers but that the term will substitute is a misnomer because these are really supplements not replacements.
Will Supplements
- The real substitute for a will is what happens when you do not have one, namelysuccession by intestacy.
- In the end any property can succeed by intestacy.
- Wills have a similar function through what is known as a residual clause that gives the left over or “residue” to the specific beneficiary(s).
- What happens if you leave a piece of property out of your will, it goes into the residue clause.
- What happens if you leave a piece of property outside of your trust?
- There is no residue clause there, so it would go to probate and devised in accordance with your will or intestacy if you have no will.
- Now lets suppose you heard of all these will substitutes so you never wrote up a Palm Beach will, what happens to that loose property?
- You guessed it, now you have died partially intestate, so much for a substitute right?
- Don’t see how this can happen?
- Here is an example; what if you leave a P.O.D. account to your son and never think about it again, now your son dies before (predeceased) you, what happens to the account?
- See why a validly executed Palm Beach will is important regardless of the other estate plan you prepared?