Definitely necessary!

They’re so vital, particularly if you have kids. You never know when or how things will change.

We have been putting this off for a while and really must get onto it! I feel that it is necessary definitely.

Once you have kids, wills are important as they are the place to indicate legally, your intentions regarding guardianship of your children if anything were to happen to you. You may think you know what will happen, but a will is super important for this reason alone. You can always update your will as your personal circumstances change.

some good advice here. for piece of mind for your kids future it would be a good idea.

Its a good idea to have a will if you have kids, Mainly to say who would be the preffered person to rasie ( or who there is no way you would ever want your kid to be left in their care ever) then if something happened to both parents you wishes will be followed. Also to let the family know if you have money hidden away for the kids future in bank accounts etc. Its for me is more about protecting the kids than anything else. In mine its set up so if somehing happens to one of us the other partner gets control of everything other than some money to be put into trust for the kids. But if something happens to both of us

I think its a good idea to have a will even though these days people can contest the will. I did my will when I left my ex husband and instead of leaving everything to my son, I have said that it is to be distributed to my children evenly (that way any future children were covered if I hadn’t updated y will). I now have 3 children and a new husband and I will be updating my will.

My Father in law had stated in his last will that his son, his daughter, & his partner at the timebut soon to become his second wife should all share 1/3 of his estate each. Unfortunately since he passed away his new wife was entitled to the lot! I’m sure he would have been upset knowing this happened but he was quite ill towards the end of his life & failed to see there was a problem in his will.

Years ago my partner and I had to get one as part of our proof to gain a recognized defacto status. I don’t think ours are truly up to date if there was anything to happen. I believe though that if you have children like we do that they are an important document to have so you have peace of mind about what will happen legally with your children if anything was to unexpectedly happen to you. It saves families heartache, anger and confusion if your wishes (even about if you want to be hurried or cremated) are clearly documented. Hope this helps.

A friend of mine who’s father did not have a will fought thick and thin as the government was claiming his dads stuff. His dad owns a boat, gold jewellery..his father was rich! When I last heard form my friend he was saying he was battling it in court and couldn’t believe he had to fight for his dads stuff..including his dads house! Kind of pathetic really! At least write out on paper your will and get justice of the peace to sign it.

The other reason to have a will is to clearly state your wishes for a funeral and other important arrangements. It alleviates family stress if your wishes are clear and concise.

Mum109463, if you aren’t married and have no children who are dependent upon you, you cannot make a binding agreement. I wanted to make children of a relative of mine in the agreement, but because they are financially dependant on me, I couldn’t do it. If you don’t make a will, the Govt. has the right to decide how your estate is divided. There has been some very nasty family disputes when there has been no will.
If you have children you should appoint a guardian in case the other parent isn’t capable of caring for them in your opinion. You also don’t want people fighting over who will be responsible for them. Children don’t deserve the extra trauma that could happen. I know of one case where the couple divorced because the Dad took off with another women. He took no interest in them at all, didn’t want to see them until 3 years he found out that their Mum was in hospital with Cancer. He didn’t respond to Govt. Dept. letters prior to her going in to hospital re the children either. A month later he went to see her and said he supposed he would have to take care of the children. In the meantime the Mum, the grandparents, and the children had each had discussions with social workers and counsellers. A legal arrangement had been made for the grandparents to have legal custody of the children and receive what was then known as child endowment which the Mum had been getting as normal and a small increase in the pension. The Housing Commission transferred the lease into the Grandparents’ name and they moved in with the children instead of moving into the small house they were renting. The eldest child had already made it quite clear that he didn’t want to go and live with his Dad even before the meetings. The middle one was confused, and the youngest was too young to remember him anyway. He and his girlfriend didn’t really want the kids anyway so it was just as well they had made legal arrangements ready. The grandparents had already moved in to take care of the children before the Mum contacted the Dad when she went into the hospital. In some states there is a Govt. body that does will free of charge provided they act as executor. (The Govt. Body charges a % of the value of the assets involved – liablilities aren’t taken into account at all) They charge exorbinant fees, far more than it costs if you make your will with a good lawyer and have them administer it. They also take longer to process it than a private lawyer does. If later in life you need somebody to take control of your financial affairs and nobody you know wants to do it privately, some Govt bodies will do it but they take longer than they should to pay accounts and charge more than the average lawyer does. The deicison is always the person makes for themselves. I am just stating experiences I have encountered.
It is also important to do a legal document if you don’t want to be kept alive by life support if there is little or no chance of good quality of life for any reason.

Everyone should have a Will and update it too when circumstances change. It is important when you have children to ensure that they are provided for in a Will; financially and with guardians too. Death is a difficult time for family and having a Will in place with your wishes can alleviate some of the pressure at this time.

some good tips thanks guys

yeah you should have something in place. maybe you are not in the age group where people tend to start thinking of these things

I think they are only necessary if you have kids, I would like to choose who would care for them if something ever happened to me.

I don’t have one but have been thinking I should. I’ll be following this post.

A will is still an important document. Whilst you may not feel that you have anything at this point in your life, you may be surprised!! Circumstances can change quite quickly and life rolls on faster than we realise. Every year hundreds of thousands of dollars simply revert to the government on account of not be left to anyone in a will. Goodness knows we can surely think of someone other than the government to leave our hard earned dollars……namely our children!

Wills are still very necessary… Especially because people seem to get very greedy and obsessive when relatives die, they think they are entitled to something!

Normally the children would go to the other guardian, which in most cases would be your husband, however super is strange, you need to contact your super company and nominate who they pay the money to, and this can be different to your will, generally the super company will pay out to who ever is your binding beneficiary (you need to do this every 3 years) just a form you submit to the super company, but it is worth making sure that this is the same as your wishes in your will.