About 70% of people die without a will, leaving courts to decide who gets their money and property. Without one, your family faces costly legal battles and your state's rules, not your wishes, determine everything. Make a will to avoid the mess.
Chapters
Dying without a will. If you die without a will, what can your family expect? Just so happens I know. And since about 70% of you out there don't have a will, it's called intestate succession. And what it means is your local probate court is going to get to decide who in your family gets what. Why does the probate court get to decide these things? Because you didn't do it while you were alive. The real tragedy here is that you could be setting your family up for a long, expensive battle with the legal system over what they think you would have wanted. So not only do your family have to deal with the fact that you're dead and gone, they also have to deal with the fact that you didn't take care of this while you were alive. If you were married, most couples expect that everything they have will go to the surviving spouse. But if you die without a will and you had children, in most states, the probate court will split your stuff between your spouse and your children. Now, every state has different laws on this, so check yours. Google the name of your state plus intestate succession. Once you see how things get split up, if you have no will, you'll begin to understand the importance of doing it. For all you superstitious people out there, I have it on good authority that it will not bring about your demise any sooner.