The Power Is In Your Hands
By Peter Lee
One day an elderly man in his early 60’s came to see me. He was very concerned with his poor health and wanted to know how to write his will to ensure that his estate is distributed fairly to his family and avoid any dispute among the family members when he passes away. After explaining to him, he said he will discuss with his wife first and then come back to me. I told him not to take too long as life is uncertain and unpredictable. When I phoned him two days later, he said he was quite busy and did not manage to discuss with his wife. So I told him again not to delay this matter of such urgency in which he asked me to give him another two days and call again. I followed his request and phoned him again. This time his wife picked up the phone and told me that her husband suffered a massive heart attack and died the night before. When I heard the news I was very sad and at the same time angry. Sad because I could not help him fulfil his wishes and angry because I did not push him hard enough to take action when the power was in his hands to do it.
Very often people approach me and say they know the importance of writing their will but when it comes to taking action, the level of procrastination is as high as our weather temperature. The common reasons for delaying their actions are ‘I have to talk to my spouse first; I will discuss with my son when he returns from overseas; let me sell this house and move into a new one first; I am really busy now; see what happens next week‘ and the list of reasons go on and on.
Do discuss with your spouse but do it quickly and draw up your will quickly. It is also important to ensure that your spouse also draws up his/her will as well. If you are waiting for your son to return from overseas, it is advisable to do your will first and then tell him who the executor is when he returns because you are distributing your estate and not your son’s estate. However, if you really need to communicate with him or seek his opinion as to who is to be appointed as Executor, it is important not to delay speaking to your children on this. Individuals or a Trust Company like RockWills Trustee can be appointed as Executor(s) of your estate to carry out your instructions and to take care of all the duties that involve legal, tax, administrative and business related matters. If your spouse is not ready, you must immediately do one for yourself because the power is in your hands to plan for your family when you are alive. A will can cover the distribution of your entire present and future assets. Therefore, one doesn’t have to wait to sell the existing property and buy another one, then only do their will.
The most common word in the workforce nowadays is “I am busy”. Doing a will is not very time consuming if one understands how to do it. Equate it with receiving your monthly salary because it empowers you to provide the basic needs for your family such as food, shelter, clothing, electricity and water bills etc. when you are alive and a will continues to provide such needs when you are no longer around. Just imagine if one morning while you are having your breakfast you suddenly feel you’re having a heart attack. Can you tell your heart to hold on because you are busy? Under such circumstances, you won’t be able to think about anything else except going to the hospital and fighting for your life. So spare your family the agony and do your will immediately for them when the power is in your hands.
Peter Lee is an Associate Estate Planning Practitioner (Wills & Trust) with RockWills International Group. He is also an Islamic Estate Planner providing Wills & Trust services for Muslims. He is based in Ipoh and can be reached at: 012-5078825/05-2554853 or excelsec@streamyx.com.
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Good Point !! Peter, i have also one of the customer told me that he has to discuss with children first, but when i received the call from his son, he is already in the ICU and not sound mind to write a will….
A timely reminder for everyone to do something good so as to leave a deed instead of debt when something unpleasant happened such as death. Well done, Peter for writing such good articles to remind us about human fallacy in life.