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Chaos

Life is often chaotic - a place in which we often can't make sense of where we are, which way is up or down, and where we may have an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, fuelled by having no idea of the way forward. Sometimes, events make us question everything we thought we knew, and we have to shift our entire mind set. We recalibrate and take measures that mitigate against future chaos and the feeling of helplessness.

Order

Order is a state in which outcomes closely match expectations. It’s having a certain predictability in life, where things in and around you work. There are many tools we can use to establish order in our lives, including the acquisition of assets such as a home. A home is where we grow our families and build memories, but it is also an asset that builds wealth through capital appreciation and may also be a source of additional cashflow if it generates a rental income. Having established order and security for your family with the purchase of your home, it is important to ensure that even after your passing, they are protected from life’s chaos, and so the creation of a Will is essential for the continuity of order. But how do we know we aren’t passing down chaos instead of order?

When the intention to maintain order results instead in chaos

It is important, in drafting your last Will & Testament to be aware of financial ‘small print’ or potential pitfalls that might prevent the full and proper execution of your wishes. For example, leaving your home to your spouse, partner or children, will require funds to pay for the transfer of the property into their name/s. In addition, the Executor of the Will is entitled to take a fee for their services, and provision should be made for that expense. It would be ironic, if, in seeking to pass on order after your death, you bequeathed only more chaos.

From chaos to order

So, how do you go about ensuring that order prevails after your death? In South Africa there are a number of options available for the drafting of a Will, including making use of the services of a bank, a law firm, or via a financial services provider through a financial advisor. Whichever you choose, the objective is to draft the Will correctly. Once you've stipulated how your estate should be managed, the Will should be signed by you in the presence of a witness who must also sign the document. A beneficiary cannot act as a witness. Whoever is assisting in the drafting of the Will should be able to calculate the cost of doing so in addition to any expenses that will be incurred by the beneficiaries in the execution of your wishes, such as the transfer duties we have already mentioned. One of the ways in which you can make financial provision for costs associated with the winding-up of your estate is by taking out life cover, in which your various assets, such as your pension or provident fund, retirement annuities, tax free savings accounts etc will be taken into consideration and against which the required liquidity needed to settle your estate will be paid. It may be a good idea to consult with several financial advisors – the same as getting several quotes for a service - to determine which one is the best fit for you. Whoever you choose to appoint should be experienced, properly qualified and accredited.

Antidote

If some chaos in life is inevitable, what is the antidote? Dr Jordan Peterson, the Author of '12 Rules for life: An antidote to chaos' said: “It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order.” Taking a step as simple as drafting a Will to ensure that order reigns in the lives of your loved ones after your death is just that - voluntarily transforming life’s chaos into order.

Click here and learn more about Wills.