MacLellan & Associates’ attorney Jaqueline MacLellan, speaking to the Hamilton Rotary Club at their lunch meeting at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club yesterday, encouraged members to draw up a will — and if they already have one, to update it regularly.

The reason for this is to ensure that a deceased person’s wishes are carried out both in relation to their estate, children, and also burial or cremation.

She explained: “This will eliminate family fighting and reduce the stress on the people left behind, and who are no doubt grieving.”

She went on to describe to Rotary members what is involved in making a will, and said that an executor should be appointed. “The executor is the person responsible for ensuring that your wishes, as set out in your will, are carried out.

“Therefore the executor must be an adult and a responsible person that you trust.”

Ms MacLellan said that people often wish to appoint their parent as the executor of their will. “While legal, you should consider how old they are, and their health,” she said.

If the testator owns Bermuda property, then the executor should preferably be Bermudian, she said, and also recommended that two executors be appointed, one of whom is not a beneficiary, to ensure that no fraud or dishonesty takes place. “Let the executors know that they have been appointed and where the original will is located. They may need to access this document quickly to determine your wishes in relation to burial or cremation,” she said.

The lawyer explained that ‘beneficiaries’ are the people who will benefit from your estate. She said: “You may leave specific items to specific individuals, or your entire estate to specific individuals or both.”

She explained that some testators will decide to preserve their estate for children until they reach a particular age, such as 21, 25 or 30. “We find many people choose the age of 25 or even 30 because they don’t want children to have money too young.” They wish to provide an incentive for their young beneficiaries to go to university or have a career, she explained.

Ms MacLellan went on to advise testators to consider individuals who might make a claim on their estate — ex-spouses or children, for example. “If you do not make a provision for them they may take the estate to court, and the value of the estate will be reduced as money will have to be spent on legal fees and protracted court litigation.”

She also recommended leaving a fund of money that would be available immediately on the death of the testator to pay for funeral expenses and immediate needs.

MacLellan & Associates’ paralegal Ericka Thomas continued with the talk, describing the role of guardians to Rotary members. Appointing guardians for children is a big decision, said the lawyer. “You will want to choose somebody whom you trust. You will need to ask the individuals whether or not they are willing to be guardians and to let them know any specific wishes that you may have in connection with raising your children.”

She added: “The issue can get tricky, especially if you are divorced from your spouse or if the other parent is not involved in the children’s life or is not capable of raising the child. If you have appointed a guardian under your will, this gives the guardian the right to intercede and bring court proceedings to request that they be given the right to care for the child rather than the biological parent or alternately to ensure that the child is receiving the proper care while being looked after by the biological parent.

“Being appointed guardian in the will gives that person standing to request the court’s assistance if necessary.”

Ms MacLellan, continuing the talk, added that it is important to review your will regularly, as your assets may have changed and beneficiaries may have died, or you may have had more children who you wish to include.

“We just had a case where a woman died and her will predated her marriage, so it was invalid. This meant that her estate had to be shared equally between her husband and her three adult children. This had a big impact on the deceased children as they were under the impression that their mom was leaving all her assets to them, which is in fact what her will had stated.

“Although the deceased’s new husband was significantly better off than the children, he insisted on receiving his share, which caused much anger and resulted in the children no longer having a relationship with their stepfather.”

She said the cost of a basic will can be less than $1,000, and noted that “ ... people are very surprised at just how simple the process is and how good they feel knowing that their affairs are organised upon death”.