Don't Have Any Assets--Don't Need A Will! (wrong)

Warning--this is a sad song, and a sad post.  I'll post up my thoughts first, today, and then the lyrics and song information. 

When I was in law school, as I started to move up the ladder and get closer to graduation, I was really gripped by the strong desire to use my education and background to HELP others in the elder law field.  I was interested in the societal issue of people who got towards the end of their lives and realized that they had no plan laid out for what would happen to their assets after they passed away.  As I became a sworn Virginia lawyer and opened my own firm, I decided to help others to make these plans.  Estate plans!  Wills!  Trusts!  Everyone needs one!  Everyone needs a plan!

Most agree with my way of thinking, or come around to agreeing with my way of thinking.  Some, however, do not.  My wife summed up the way of thinking with the following statement that someone said to her: "I ain't got any assets, my beneficiaries on my life insurance are my kids, so I don't need a will.  I'm good."  No.  No you are not.  Lack of assets does NOT mean you should not plan for assets & their orderly distribution.  Having a life insurance policy with your kids as beneficiaries does NOT mean that you don't need to plan for your kids.  You really need a will even if you are flat broke, to be honest!  

I cannot (in a blog) go into all of the permutations of what will and will not happen based on a person not having a will.  The Code of the Commonwealth of Virginia is complicated and everyone's life situation is different.  But let me just present a scenario from the song "Cafe On the Corner" as performed by Sawyer Brown back in the early 1990's.  

​At the cafe down on the corner
With a lost look on his face
There ain't no fields to plow
No reason to now
He's just a little out of place
They say crime don't pay
But neither does farmin' these days
And the coffee is cold
And he's fifty years old
And he's gotta learn to live some other way
At the cafe down on the corner
With a lost look on his face
There ain't no fields to plow
He's busin' tables now
He's just a little out of place
And the meek shall inherit the earth
And the bank shall repossess it
This job don't pay half what it's worth
But it's a thankful man that gets it
At the cafe down on the corner
With a lost look on his face
There ain't no fields to plow
He's wishin' for one now
He's just a little out of place
All these soldiers without wars
And hometown boys without a home
Farmers without fields
Dealers without deals
And they sit here drinkin' coffee all alone
At the cafe down on the corner
With a lost look on their face
There ain't no fields to plow
They're wishin' for one now
They're just a little out of place
Songwriters: M. McAnally
Cafe on the Corner lyrics © Beginner Music

I told you it was a sad song.  Assume the character they are singing about lost his farm and home at an auction (the farm went out of business).  We don't know if he is married, or widowed.  We can assume some kids, but grown and out of the house.  He is now working at a café as a busboy.  Why would he need a will?  Well, we dont know much about his financial situation, but if he has any type of benefits at death (farm life insurance, maybe) and the kids are grown, or he never added them to his policy, who gets the benefits?  The assets might roll to his wife, or his estate, or via his estate, to the creditors he had outstanding who forced the farm auction.  Who knows.  And the process to have any benefits can be complicated, take years, and engender a great deal of stress amongst the family members.  There are too many things to leave to chance for you not to have a will or some sort of plan for your estate.  

And all of this above discussion is just about the farmer who is working in the café.  What are the financial situations of the others mentioned?  The homeless, the dealers without deals, the soldiers without wars?  Wills and estate plans do more than just help everyone figure out where your assets go, they help provide for those left behind (spouse, kids, relatives).  Give me a call today to discuss how I can help you get things squared away.