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Wills • Introduction
WILLS#000
Legal Definition
The Government cares a lot about property rights. When you're alive, it's easy to settle issues related to the stuff you own. If you have a PlayStation and you lend it to your friend, but that friend decides to not give it back, you—a perfectly alive human being—have the ability to seek help to get it back. Similarly, if you drop a gift off for your friend Sam but Bob ends up opening it and keeping it, you—a perfectly alive human being—have the ability to ensure the gift makes it to the person you intended it to go to. This magical ability of you, a living person, being able to recognize something wrong or inconsistent with property and act to correct it is a luxury that lose the moment you die. This can cause a lot of headaches for your friends, family, loved ones, and the Government who is tasked with helping to sort it all out.
For this reason, the law has created various, strict procedures on how we record the instructions (called "Wills") living people make for how to deal with their property when they die. The goal is simple: increasing the probability of giving your property to the person you actually wanted it to go to. This may seem simple, but as you will learn in this topic's cards, there are various formalities that complicate things.
When it comes to exams, use a mental checklist to treat Wills as if it flows chronologically: (1) Is there a valid will? (2) If so, did it ever get revoked? (3) If not, are all the components of the will present? (4) Are there any issues with how the will may be constructed or interpreted? (5) Do we need to consider how the property may need to be divvied up without a will, via something fancy you'll learn about later called "intestate succession"? (6) Are there any surviving spouses or children that may have rights? (7) Are there any reasons anyone who may be owed property under the will should not actually receive such property because they are barred for some reason?
Read the facts carefully because exam writers like to be sneaky.
For this reason, the law has created various, strict procedures on how we record the instructions (called "Wills") living people make for how to deal with their property when they die. The goal is simple: increasing the probability of giving your property to the person you actually wanted it to go to. This may seem simple, but as you will learn in this topic's cards, there are various formalities that complicate things.
When it comes to exams, use a mental checklist to treat Wills as if it flows chronologically: (1) Is there a valid will? (2) If so, did it ever get revoked? (3) If not, are all the components of the will present? (4) Are there any issues with how the will may be constructed or interpreted? (5) Do we need to consider how the property may need to be divvied up without a will, via something fancy you'll learn about later called "intestate succession"? (6) Are there any surviving spouses or children that may have rights? (7) Are there any reasons anyone who may be owed property under the will should not actually receive such property because they are barred for some reason?
Read the facts carefully because exam writers like to be sneaky.
Visual Aids
