Why You Need to Add Colour and Intent to Your Will

Gary explains why it’s so important to convey intent with your will. Your family needs to understand the “why,” not just the “what.”

You may have provided properly in your will in all the words that you can use to be as clear as humanly possible, right? This much of that, this, much of that, this person, if not this person, this per, but you didn’t give it colour, you didn’t give it feeling, you didn’t give it you didn’t give it intent.

Do you do that in the will itself or do you mean you have to add to that? Through the conversations with the family members, the beneficiaries, the executors.

Yeah, I think clarity, obviously the best clarity you can provide in, in a document in a will is obviously going to help everyone. But let’s say you’ve done that.

There’s always going to be ambiguity as time progresses because families don’t stand still. You may have done that will 10 years ago or five years ago, or you may do it today and you know, it may not take effect for 10 or 15 years.

So families change. So was your intent the same? If people understood your intent, like I recently had a situation, where someone passed and. They had left their wishes and their wishes were divide the funds amongst my, in this case, cousins. But every one of those cousins knew they also meant to include the next generation of one of the cousins. Everyone knew that. They knew. It wasn’t written down. And so the goodwill of those people said, we’re gonna do it because it’s the right thing to do, and it is what he wanted. So they did it, but it wasn’t written down. So David, it’s the intent.

They knew what his intent was. They marshaled together and did the right thing. It would’ve been great if he, I mean, he passed early, but if others would have those conversations about what the intent is there.