Are You Taking The Same Risk That Could Cost The Queen Of Soul’s Family Privacy?

August 27, 2018

By now you’ve probably heard about the passing of Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul.” What you may not have heard about is the big mistake she made, one shared by a majority of Americans. She didn’t have a will. People often don’t get wills because they feel they don’t need one or can’t afford it. Let’s take a quick look at each of these common misconceptions:

If you think you don’t need a will

There may be some truth to this. If you’re single with no children and few assets, you may be fine with your state’s default rules (called “intestacy”) for people who die without a will. For example, I’m unmarried and have no children and am okay with my non-retirement assets going to my parents, so I don’t have a will. (My brother is the primary beneficiary of my retirement accounts for tax purposes.)

However, if you have minor children, you need a will to determine who their guardian would be. It’s probably not something you want a court to decide. You probably also want more of say in who would inherit your assets and perhaps would like those details to remain more private than intestacy allows for.

If you think you can’t afford a will

First, check with your employer. Many offer access to free online estate planning documents as an employee benefit. There are also a host of web sites that offer wills and other basic legal documents for free (like doyourownwill.com) or a relatively low cost (like Nolo, Legal Zoom, and Rocket Lawyer). These online services may not be as good as hiring an estate planning attorney (especially if your estate is complex or you think it may be contested), but it’s still better than not having one at all.  

If you prefer to hire an attorney, check again with your employer. You may have a pre-paid legal benefit that allows you to get free or low cost legal services, including estate planning with an attorney. You can sign up for the benefit (typically not until open enrollment), get your documents drafted, and then cancel or not renew it.

What was Aretha’s reason?

Of course, neither of these objections applied to Aretha Franklin. She was 76 years old, had four children, and was worth roughly $80 million. She was also advised by her lawyer to draft a will…so why didn’t she?

Like almost half of respondents in one survey, she probably just never got around to it. Procrastination is our biggest enemy when it comes to estate planning. After all, the topics aren’t exactly the most fun things to think about it and we don’t get a statement about it each month to remind us to.

We also tend to think we’ll have plenty of time to do it later…until it’s too late. So don’t be like Aretha Franklin (unless you can sing like her – then be like Aretha Franklin). Get your will done ASAP!