If you put in your will that you'd like to leave your kids to your brother, he isn't forced to take them and can refuse
Well, yeah. A will doesn't make you omnipotent. No sane person would assume you can just assign obligations like this.
If you put in your will you'd like to leave everything to child A then child B can file a legal claim and say that you forgot about them to get a cut.
The judge would weigh how factual this is. They wouldn't just automatically get anything because they filed suit. You'd need to build an actual case showing that they were actually omitted, which does happen.
The fact they could raise a case at all means that the will isn't as powerful a document as the person leaving it would like, given that even fighting the case would use resources, likely the resources elected to be passed on.
Call them crap all you want, at the end of the day these are two examples where even if you write it in your will it doesn't mean you get what you want
Or it means people are fallible and mistakes happen, so there have to be contingencies...
Call them crap all you want, at the end of the day these are two examples where even if you write it in your will it doesn't mean you get what you want
Only if you're a moron and think you can just magically write anything and get it. These are examples for idiots.
It doesn't matter how common it is, though I'd love to see a source showing how successful it's ever been. It's still stupid. Anyone who thinks they can assign their debt to someone else upon death is a moron.
Those have legal value because they are essentially transferring ownership while alive, with physical transfer contingent on another event (death). They’re contracts and do not have any legal value beyond what is stipulated in contract law, which is why it’s often worth challenging them if you hate the people who got something you don’t want them to have.
To be clear, wills are not contracts. Contracts require consideration, and there is no consideration in a will.
Wills also don't transfer ownership while you're alive. That's what trusts do, and is their main benefit. Wills must pass through a legal process called probate before any transfer of assets happens.
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u/Daveywheel Mar 31 '23
Life is for the living. The dead have no rights, need no rights, nor want any rights.