I’m sorry if this sounds morbid especially when it’s a “pregnancy” blog but this is a serious issue that we Mums and Dads have to think of.
I have been hearing too many stories of young fathers between the ages of 27-39 years old dying suddenly from heart attacks and stroke that I decided it’s time to grab the husband, sit him down and talk about writing our wills.
Call it panic if you like but after celebrating my recent birthday, I realize that we’re are getting OLDER but our kids are still so YOUNG. Scary, right?
Please don’t think that because you only own a house/apartment/flat, a car or have little money in the bank, you don’t need a will.
Did you know that when a person dies, Malaysian law freezes a person’s funds including:
- savings accounts,
- FD,
- investment of any sort
until a Letter of Administration (LA) or Grant of Probate is issued. The entire process of getting that darn Letter of Administration or Grant of Probate can take more than a year!
Funeral expenses are high – I was truly grateful to hubby’s colleagues for very, very kindly passing the hat around when my father died. I was a housewife then thus their kind gesture really touched my heart. I will not forget what they have done for me.
Now, my father was an old man yet he was very anxious about procedures after he died while we were anxious about keeping him alive! He knew he didn’t have much to leave us but he still didn’t want us to go through hell after he’d gone…
I can only imagine the grief and horror a young wife with kids would go through if the husband didn’t leave a will because she will need money to pay the housing loan/rent, the car loan, money for food/clothes/milk, kindergarten fees, school books and everything else for daily life.
Furthermore, if she had to live with her family or her husband’s family, she and the kids may need to put up with the arguments or comments the family members WILL make after the funeral is over, especially when it comes to money matters. Trust me, I’ve been there.
I would hate to think of our kids going through such hell if anything were to happen to either of us. You can imagine the earful the husband’s been getting…
Will writing is like going for a tooth extraction – it’s painful but necessary.
For now, we’ve been reading this excellent article:
It’s quite a headache deciding who to write the will (most banks offer the service although you could just get a lawyer to draft it for RM300 or something), who will be the guardian (the one to take care of the kids), the trustee (the one to manage the money) and a thousand other details to fill in.
Here is some info our local and foreign banks posted online: Al-Rajhi’s application form (by Amanah Raya Bhd.) HSBC, Public Bank.
It’s got me thinking that I may want to become an independent will writer and/or financial planner. After all, more than 5 financial planners / insurance agents have suggested that I do it. I do have a lot of good (and bad) of experiences to share and advise young couples.
And it would be a meaningful job. For now, these 2 companies have got my attention:
- Rockwills - check out their FAQs.
- OSK Trustees – check out the overview on estate planning.
Will need to sit the Hubby down tonight to work on the will. And that’s just the beginning!!!
Have you got any tips or experiences to share with this newbie?
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Writing the Will is actually very simple and there are free templates. The hard part is determined the guardian of your kids, the executor and the division of assets.
I am glad I got mine done, one less thing to worry.
Michelle – You know what? I thought I was the only one having a headache choosing the guardian and the trustee. I already have the people in mind and I do hope that they will agree to it because one of them almost freaked out when I asked
I got mine done at Rockwills, after my #1 is born.
Will writing can be very simple and cheap (or free), but i prefer to have mine done by a professional will writer. What I was told is that Rockwills actually will get a panel of lawyers to review your will for approval. If there are any “arguable” clauses, they will advise u to change it to prevent any problems later on during execution. I actually had clauses that that the lawyers refused to accept and asked me to changed it.
For me it is money well spent for peace of mind.
True, am sure the guardian and trustee will really freak out one when it comes life and death matter, hehe…
Shooi – I’m so shylah now hearing of how proactive you are! To think that I’m only now thinking of doing it :S What were the additional clauses you had? I’m wondering what the law will and won’t allow…
chinnee – Good news! The guardian has agreed and the trustee is waiting to hear about it next. She’s a bit worried about me (and my health) and I wonder if she WILL freak out when I ask her about this :S
I’ve got mine done using Rockwills too. Even got them to safekeep the will for an additional fee, knowing what a prawn head I am when it comes to organising papers! Don’t forget to check on your EPF nominations too (I’ve heard of cases that the previously nominated names dissapear because they changed systems every couple of years!!) because EPF cannot be included in the administration of the will due to legalities. I found will writing painless. Only the $$ forked out was a tad painful, but worth it lah.
Paik Ling – Oh, dear. I’ve been so busy with stuff and the kids, I have NOT gotten round to doing this yet!!!!!!!!!
Have been thinking about this on and off too, but haven’t got round to actually doing something about it.
It’s all true: It’s morbid, it’s usually not thought about, but it has to be done.
Hot Mummee was the one who suggested; more like insisted it, that we did one each. It did get a little touchy, when we got to the parts of how our assets were to be split depending on how much we each contributed from our single lives against how much we have contributed since marrying!
But it wasn’t that difficult. We got a professional agent to help with it. The harder part after that was getting the fullnames and IC numbers of beneficiaries and also getting them copies for safe-keeping.
A Mom’s Diary – Ugh, I’m still in the middle of it. Bad!!!
JLow – Wow…your discussion is an interesting one
Hubby and I are quite straightforward.
Husband: Wah…you’ve got all my money.
Wife: I’m unemployed! I’ve got stretchmarks! I’ve got a fat ass and a big tummy. And I’ve got 2 brats that scare the daylights out of their doting grandparents. Which man wants me now? What am I going to do if YOU ran away with some sweet young girl?
Husband: Ok, ok. Leave me a bit. You can have more money. Just don’t run away with another man with it!
Wife: Hey…if I’m going to run away with another man you can bet he’s gonna have MORE money than I am. Duh.
Husband: -_-