COCHRANE— It may be an uncomfortable topic to think about, but having a will in place is one of the best things you can do to secure the future of your family.
Karmelle Johnston, the owner of Johnston Legal Group in Cochrane, said that it is a critical document to have in place.
“People are somewhat overwhelmed by getting their wills done. It seems like a daunting process. But when somebody passes away without a will it does complicate the probating or administering of one’s assets,” Johnston said.
The situation gets even more complicated when children are involved.
“Lots of people don’t do their wills because they don’t know who they want to appoint as the guardian of their minor children. If somebody passes without a will and they have minor children, if mom and dad couldn’t decide who should be the legal guardian, then you’re at the discretion of family members and the court to determine guardianship, which is not something you want to do,” Johnston said. “I always say if you don’t know who to appoint, why would you let others decide on your behalf.”
Although wills can be expensive to draft, the cost of administering an estate if the worst scenario comes to pass can be much more expensive than paying for the drafting of a will.
If there are major life changes, wills can always be changed or updated to reflect those, and most law firms are fairly accommodating of that sort of service, Johnston said.
“Most law firms are pretty good about making minor changes to a will, updating your will when something has changed, or relationships have been altered. It’s better to have something in place and altered down the road, than to have nothing in place and just be literally at the discretion of legislation for how your assets will be distributed.” she said.
Although the process can seem daunting, Johnston said, she has developed a fairly straight-forward questionnaire. Once she gets the questionnaire back, she drafts the document, reviews it with the clients, finalizes and signs it.
“I try to make it less overwhelming, because it is a daunting task. No one wants to do a will, because who wants to think about death and dying,” she said.
Johnston added just as important as a will is having a personal directive and enduring power of attorney in place.
The process of appointing someone to have power of attorney, or determining a personal directive, when someone lacks the capacity to do so on their own is much a much more expensive and time-intensive process, Johnston said.
Johnston said she recommends doing all three at once, to ensure the future of your assets and family are secure, and has one rate for all three documents.
“It’s very important to me to have young couples have their wills done to set up guardians in case something happens, and it’s also very important to me to make sure people get their enduring power of attorney and their personal directives done,” she said. “Life happens and we don’t expect it.”
