What a will does, and what it does not

Introduction

0:04HouseholdWe keep meaning to write a will. What actually happens if we never do?

0:09Then state law decides some of it for you, and your family has more to work out, often while they are grieving. Four questions come up in almost every family. If you are not married, who inherits? If the children are young, who looks after them? Does a will reach the pension, and the life policy?

0:30And would anyone find it? This film takes them one at a time. You would not be alone. In a 2021 Gallup survey, fewer than half of American adults said they had a will. Under thirty, one in five. Over sixty-five, about three in four.

0:54Even a famous estate shows how much can be left to work out. In April 2016, Prince, the famous musician, died at his home in Minnesota. No will was found. First, the heirs. More than forty-five people came forward. In May 2017, a judge named six: his sister, and five half-siblings. Then, the value. The estate’s administrator and the IRS were about eighty million dollars apart. They settled in 2022.

1:31Then, the administration: paying what was owed, and sharing out the rest. The court approved the distribution more than six years after his death. A will could have answered the first question. Valuing a large estate, and settling its taxes, can take time with a will or without one. Wanting a say in who inherits is not new.

1:57More than three thousand years ago, in the Egyptian village of Deir el-Medina, an elderly woman named Naunakhte made a declaration before the local court. She named which of her children would share in her own property, and which would not: they had not, she said, cared for her in old age. They still shared in their father’s property. Her record survives, in a museum in Oxford.

2:26Family expectations and inheritance don’t always line up. People have long written their choices down. A will is a few pages. What it can decide, and what it cannot, shapes what your family is left to sort out. I’m Freya, Finna’s AI chief of staff.

No will

2:50HouseholdWe’re not married. If something happened to me, would my partner inherit anything?

2:55Without a will, state law answers that, not you. Dying without a valid will is called intestacy. Each state sets an order of relatives. In Minnesota, it starts with a spouse and children, then parents, then brothers and sisters. Prince had no spouse or children, and his parents had died, so the law went to the next row.

3:22An unmarried partner is not on the list. Take a hypothetical household. Sam and Jordan have lived together for twelve years, not married, with a daughter, Mia, who is six. If Sam died without a will, in Minnesota, Mia would be Sam’s heir for what passes under state law. Jordan would not be.

3:47Jordan could still receive what names Jordan directly, such as a joint account, or a policy with Jordan as the beneficiary. Someone would have to be appointed by the court to handle the estate. With no will nominating anyone, state rules set who comes first, and an unmarried partner may not be near the front.

4:09Jordan would go on raising Mia, as her parent. Managing the money Mia inherits is a separate job, and may need a court’s approval. And all of it means finding papers, proving who has authority, and settling questions, while grieving. Even for a married couple, a surviving spouse does not always inherit everything, for example when there are children from an earlier relationship.

4:39Two words to keep from this chapter. Intestacy: dying without a valid will. State law then decides who inherits what passes through the estate. And probate: the court process for transferring a person’s property after death: appointing someone to act, paying debts, and distributing what is left.

What a will decides

5:05HouseholdIf something happened to both of us, who would look after the children?

5:09A will can say what you would want. Here is what it decides, and what it does not. A will does three main things. It directs who inherits the property it controls, within the law. It nominates who should handle the estate, often called the executor. That person still needs the court’s appointment before they can act.

5:34And for young children, it nominates who you would want to raise them. A court still decides, and a surviving parent usually keeps their rights. It can also name someone to manage a child’s inheritance, which is a different job from raising them. What a will does not do: it takes effect only at death, and it does not necessarily avoid probate. For decisions while you are alive, but unable to make them, people use other documents, such as a power of attorney, or a health care directive.

6:09So, who would look after the children? If you nominate someone, the court hears your answer. Two more words to keep. A personal representative: the person a court appoints to handle an estate. A will can nominate one, often called the executor. And a guardian: a person responsible for raising a child.

6:35A will can nominate one; a court decides.

What passes outside it

6:41HouseholdMy will leaves everything to my wife. Could my pension still go to my ex?

6:46It can. One US Supreme Court case turned on exactly that. In 1974, William Kennedy, who worked at DuPont, named his wife, Liv, as beneficiary of his savings plan. In 1994 they divorced, and the divorce decree said she gave up any claim to it. He never changed the form.

7:10When he died, in 2001, the plan paid her about four hundred thousand dollars. His estate took the case to the Supreme Court. In 2009, the Court held that the plan was right to follow its own documents, and pay the person named on the form. That ruling was about this kind of employer plan.

7:31Other accounts, and other states, can have different rules. A will covers what passes through your estate. But a retirement account, or a life policy, generally goes to the beneficiary named on its form, subject to the law, and the plan’s rules.

7:49So the will and the forms need to work together. Different names can be intentional. Out-of-date ones usually are not. So, could a pension go to an ex? It can, if the form still names them. One word to keep from this chapter. A beneficiary designation: the name on an account or policy that says who should receive it.

8:15It generally governs that account, outside the will.

Found, and still true

8:21HouseholdWe made our wills years ago. Would anyone find them, and do they still say what we want?

8:26A will helps only if it can be found, and still fits the family. When Aretha Franklin died, in 2018, her family believed she had no will. The next year, her niece searched the house. In a locked cabinet, she found two handwritten wills, from 2010. Under the cushions of a couch, in a spiral notebook, she found another, from 2014.

8:53The family disagreed about which one counted. In 2023, a jury found that the 2014 notebook was a valid will. A probate court generally needs the signed original, so someone you trust should know where it is kept. If only a copy turns up, it can take more work, and the rules vary by state.

9:17And a will gets older with the family. Read it again after big changes: a marriage, a divorce, a birth, a move to another state, or when someone you named can no longer serve. In Minnesota, for example, a divorce revokes most gifts to a former spouse, and a spouse married after the will may still claim a share. So, would anyone find yours?

9:42Only if someone knows where it is, and it still says what you want.

In a family’s office

9:48A family office keeps the will, the roles and the forms in one place, so they can be checked together. Take an illustrative household, the Johnsens. Their records note where each signed original is kept, and who is nominated to handle the estate.

10:06And a gap is easy to see: Oscar is fifteen, and no guardian is recorded. Every beneficiary named on an account or policy sits beside the will, with where it is held. So the forms and the will can be checked together, and an out-of-date name stands out. A household can do the same, at its own size. A will, and a note of where the signed original is kept.

10:37Someone nominated to handle the estate, and for young children, a guardian, each asked first. Account and policy forms that work with the will. A reminder to read it all again after any big change. And someone who knows where it all is.

10:54Freya can help gather and organise this. She doesn’t give legal advice, or check whether a will is valid. For that, talk to a lawyer in your state.

In short

11:06So, in short. Without a will, state law decides who inherits, and an unmarried partner may receive nothing. A will can nominate who handles the estate, and who would raise your children. Beneficiary forms generally decide those accounts, so make them work with the will.

11:26And a will helps only if it can be found, and still fits the family. You’ll find Finna at finnafamilyoffice.com. Ready when you are.