Signing a Will
At
ExpatLegalWills.com
we have removed the obstacles to writing a Last Will and
Testament. It is convenient, low cost, and simple. The
MyWill™ service steps you through a series of questions
in a "wizard" format. All questions are written in plain language, so you
don't have to be a legal expert to create your own Will. You simply answer
the questions, complete the details, and we automatically and instantly format a
document that forms the basis of a legal Will, custom-made for your local jurisdiction.
"I used your service to write a Will for my dear wife Christine who passed
away this year. The Will was easy to fill out and very straightforward. I never
had one problem arise because of the Will." ---
Keith Sutton Read more
testimonials
Below is more information about your Will, including
instructions explaining how to sign your Will and make into a legal document,
as well as information regarding how and when you should update your
Will.
Structure Of The Will
The Will has the following structure:
- It identifies the person making the Will (you), otherwise known as the
"testator".
- It revokes (cancels) all previous Wills, to make it clear that this
Will replaces any earlier Wills you may have made.
- It names the personal representative, called the
"executor", for your Will. This is the person who will be
responsible for distributing your estate (property) according to the wishes
outlined in your Will.
- It leaves all of your property to your executor in trust. The
executor, as the trustee of the estate, is given ownership of all of the property in
your estate after you die, but must distribute the property according
to the instructions in your Will.
- It instructs the executor to pay all valid debts, expenses,
claims and taxes on your estate.
- It tells the executor to give your beneficiaries whatever is left
in the estate after the debts, expenses, claims and taxes have been paid.
- It gives the executor certain legal and financial powers to
manage your estate, including power to keep or sell property in the estate, to invest
cash, and to borrow money.
- It names one or more people who should take custody of any minor children.
Printing The Will
The easiest way to print your Will is to click on the
"Download and Print your Will" link located on the main menu of the
MyWill™ service and save the PDF file on your local hard drive.
If you have Adobe Reader installed on your system (free download available from
here), you can then open this PDF file and print it.
Signing The Will
In order to make the Will a legal document, you should first
print it and read it thoroughly. Make sure that it accurately reflects your
wishes and that you understand everything that is contained in the document.
Once you are happy that it reflects your wishes, you must sign your Will in the
presence of at least two witnesses, and the two witnesses must also sign the
Will, in the presence of the "testator" (yourself) and in the presence
of each other. You and the witnesses should also initial each page, so that it
is not possible to alter any pages after the Will has been signed. A witness
cannot be a beneficiary of the Will, they cannot be the spouse of a beneficiary
(at the time of signing), they cannot be a minor, and, like the
"testator" (you), they must be of sound mind.
For the signing procedure, gather the witnesses together in a
room. You should make a formal statement that you have gathered them to witness
the signing of your Will. They do not have to read the Will or know its
contents. They are only required to witness your signature.
You should initial each page in turn, in the designated bottom
corner of each page, and then sign your name
in full on the last page, in full view of the witnesses. Each witness then in
turn initials each page, in the designated bottom corner of each page, and signs the last page. Everybody must stay present
until all of the signing is complete.
There should only be one original of the Will for everyone to
sign. Copies can be created by photocopy. It is therefore a good idea to sign
the original in blue ink, so that it is easily distinguishable from the
photocopies. Do not sign the photocopies, as this will create duplicate originals
which can be difficult to administer.
After The Will Is Signed
After the Will is signed you must keep the original and all
copies in a safe place, and let your
executor know where the original is stored. This can be done through the MyMessages™ service if
you want to ensure that your executor or particular family members remember
where your Will is located, or if you are reluctant to disclose the location of
your Will prior to your death. The MyFuneral™
service also allows you to document the location of your Will.
Although the unsigned version of your Will stored online at
ExpatLegalWills.com
is not a legal document, if you wish you can allow one or more
of your designated "Keyholders®" to have access to the Will that you
have created here at
ExpatLegalWills.com.
Assigning Keyholders®
You should use the
MyKeyholders™ service to assign
one or more personal "Keyholders®" to your MyWill™ service.
A "Keyholder®" is someone that you decide to trust with
the power to unlock your wishes when the time is right. Each Keyholder® is
assigned a private, secure, randomly-generated "Keyholder® ID" which
they will use to login and access your wishes when it is eventually required.
You can designate up to 20 different Keyholders® and you can
even specify, for each Keyholder®, what specific information they can unlock. In
particular, you should give at least one of your Keyholders® the power to unlock
and access your Will after you have passed away. In addition to close
friends or family members, it is a good idea to ensure that your executor is a
Keyholder® for your MyWill™ service. This could be
particularly important if your legally signed copy cannot be located (for
example, if it burned in a house fire). In this situation, your
ExpatLegalWills.com
Will can still provide some guidance to a loving family, as
they can understand how you wanted your property to be distributed.
With a valid Keyholder® ID, your Keyholder® can access
information such as your Will, Power of Attorney, health care directives or funeral wishes from
anywhere in the world after you have passed away or become mentally incompetent. Security mechanisms to prevent
unauthorized premature access to your wishes are also available and are fully
configurable by you. These are described in more detail in the help text
associated with the MyKeyholders™ service.
You must also let your designated Keyholders® know that you are
asking them to take on the important responsibility of unlocking your Will when
the time is right. At the very least, they need to know their Keyholder® ID
and the web address of this website. You can choose to do this yourself.
However, to make this very easy for you, we recommend that you let us notify
your Keyholder® for you. There are 2 options:
- We can send them an email, customizable by you, which
contains all of the information they need to know. This is a free
service.
- We can send them a custom-made wallet card by postal mail
which contains all of their important information. There is a small
charge for this service, but it has the advantage of providing a permanent
physical record which can be kept by your Keyholder® with their own important
documents for easy retrieval. This option is also handy if your
Keyholder® doesn't have a known email address or if you have decided to share
a single Keyholder® ID with more than one person.
More information on creating and notifying your Keyholders® can
be found in the MyKeyholders™ service.
Updating Your Will
Your Will comes into effect only after your death and is
strictly confidential until that time. Throughout your life, you are free to
update your Will as often as you like, either by making an amendment, or by
drafting a new Will. An amendment to an existing will is called a
"codicil" and must follow the same form and structure of a full Will (i.e. it must be
properly signed and witnessed). Consequently, writing a codicil is not
usually much of a shortcut. In fact, it can lead to significant confusion.
It is strongly recommended that if you wish to make changes to your Will, that you
create a new Will and revoke and destroy all previous Wills. Each time you modify your
existing Will stored here at
ExpatLegalWills.com,
the MyWill™ service does just
that --- it produces a new Will that revokes all of your previous Wills. Never,
ever, make handwritten amendments to your printed Will.
Not updating a Will can be as bad as not having a Will at
all. Even if you feel that there have not been many changes in your life, your
Will should be reviewed every year on a routine basis.
Beyond the routine reviews of your Will, you should consider
updating your Will in the following circumstances:
- If somebody named in your Will dies
- If a major asset is purchased or sold
- If you remarry, separate, divorce or cohabit
- If you move to a new province/state or country
- If your executor or alternate executor no longer wish to serve
- If any new children are born, adopted, or pass away
- If any person named in your Will becomes seriously ill
- If your children reach the age of majority
- If you wish to change some beneficiaries
- If you wish to redistribute your property in a different way
After You Die
After you die and your Will has been located, your executor will apply for "probate".
This process confirms that the Will being presented
to the court is the most recent, official copy of your Will, and your executor
will be appointed by the court to administer your estate.
When your executor applies for probate, at
least one of the witnesses will be required to confirm that he or she was
actually a witness to the signing of your Will and that the correct legal formalities were
followed. This evidence is usually in the form of an "affidavit of
execution",
where the witness swears under oath that everybody was present at the signing.
This affidavit of execution can be signed at the same time the Will is signed, or
when the Will is probated. If, at the time of probate, none of the witnesses are
living, or none of the witnesses can be located, then the veracity of the
signing procedures can be confirmed by authentication of the signatures.
There is plenty of official literature available to your
executor to describe the process they need to follow after your death. If your executor is also a
"Keyholder®" for your MyWill™ service, then they
will also have access to specific step-by-step instructions which are made
available to them at this website when they login to retrieve your Will.