When a Will Is a Good Idea

If you have trust; or don’t have children; or it’s just you, your spouse and your kids; you might think you don’t need a will, but it depends on the nature of your assets and how you want them handled when you’re gone.

A last will and testament directs your executor how and to whom your assets are to be distributed. If you do not have a will, assets in your name when you die will pass under New York State’s intestacy laws. However, only the disposition of your probate assets – assets titled in your name alone with no named beneficiary – can be affected by your will or by the laws of intestacy.

Assets held jointly with right of survivorship, assets that have a named beneficiary, or assets held in a revocable trust are not probate assets.Your will has no bearing on the distribution of these assets (unless the named beneficiary is your estate). For example, bank and brokerage accounts and real property held jointly with right of survivorship pass directly to the joint tenant. Most retirement accounts and life insurance go to a named beneficiary.

If you die without a will, your probate assets go to certain relatives who have survived you. If you are unmarried with no children, your probate assets go to your parents, or, if they don’t survive you, to your siblings. If you are unmarried and have children, your assets pass to your children. If you are married with no children, all your assets pass to your spouse. If you are married and have children, $50,000 and one-half of your probate assets pass to your spouse, and the other half is distributed among your children.

In your will, you can give your spouse the use of all of your assets during his or her lifetime, while still taking advantage of estate tax exemptions. You can also have assets which are to pass to children or grandchildren held in trust until they reach a certain age, or for their lives or longer. If you have minor children, you most certainly need a will, and if you have children of any age, you should consider creating trusts for them in your will.

Anyone who does not want their assets to pass according to the laws of intestacy should have a will. Even if you have a revocable trust, you should have a will to catch any probate assets you forgot to transfer to the trust.

This article was published in the July 2026 issue of Stroll Lloyd Harbor.