If you’ve created a will, good for you. Many South Africans don’t have one, but it’s an important financial tool, much like life insurance, in managing your estate. This is why it’s essential that you keep it up to date. As a general rule of thumb, you should review your will at least once a year. The same can be said for your life insurance policy. Still our life stages are constantly changing, relationships evolve and there are certain circumstances where it’s a good idea to review your estate plan right away. Here are just a few of them.

When Your Assets Change

Perhaps you’ve bought a second home. Maybe you’ve got a new car. Either way, these are assets and will form part of your estate. If something should happen to you and you’d like specific people to receive these things, you’re going to want to include this in your will. The same thing goes for when you lose assets. If you’ve always planned on leaving your car to your spouse, but no longer have it, your will should be reviewed.

When you get married

Most people want to include their spouse in their will. If you get married and haven’t updated your will to reflect this, should you unexpectedly pass away, they might not receive what you’d want them to and could face a legal battle to receive more than a child’s share from your estate. (In South Africa, according to the Interstate Succession Act, if you pass away without a will, your spouse will only receive a child’s share or R250 000 from your estate – whichever amount is greater.)

As far as life insurance goes, the only person who’ll receive a payout on your passing is your nominated beneficiary/beneficiaries. If you have a life insurance policy and haven’t listed your spouse as the beneficiary, they won’t receive the payout and will have no legal claim to it.

When You Get Divorced

Getting divorced is another situation where you want to review your estate. For example, if you’ve listed your ex-spouse as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy and happen to pass away, they will receive the payout and can do with the money as they wish. If you’ve since remarried, this could cause unnecessary angst.

You should also know that if you pass away three months after getting divorced and haven’t updated your will, your ex-spouse could stand to benefit from your estate.

When You Have A Child

Baby on the way? Congrats! Still, this comes with a lot of responsibility. To ensure your new bundle’s future is financially protected, you’ll want to add them or a trusted guardian as the beneficiary to your life insurance policy. You may even want to increase your coverage amount to ensure important things, like their education, can be taken care of. Naturally, you’ll also want to include them in your will.

When Your Beneficiaries Pass Away

We don’t want to think about losing the people we love but it can happen. While paperwork is the last thing you want to deal with while grieving, it’s important to remove them as beneficiaries. This way, your estate can be best distributed among your remaining family. As an example, if the beneficiary of your life insurance policy passes away and you do too, the payout will go towards your estate. If you’d have preferred it to go directly to another specific beneficiary, they may struggle to receive the amount, particularly if you pass away while in debt.

In short, having a will and a life insurance policy in place can help you protect your loved ones, but never underestimate the important of keeping it up to date. If it’s been a while since you’ve reviewed either of them, today’s the day to do it.

Did you know:

You can apply for a will online with MiWayLife here. You can now also take out life cover with us online in a few simple steps. No calls and no agents! Make sure to take care of those you love today by buying MiWayLife cover online.