I received news from a friend oversea. What happened was that a friend of hers, went to sleep and did not wake up! The person who passed away peace fully was did not have any illness and was just 35 years old. This event is particularly worst because he had just become a father 3 weeks back. In some ways, you can say he was lucky and died in his sleep with no critical illness like cancer or heart attack.

He left behind a young baby just a few weeks old child. From what I know, being overseas, he was not married but living with his fiance. I do not know if he was written a Will and I hope there won’t be any fight over his property.

This highlights the importance of writing a Will even when you are young. You won’t know when your time on earth is up.

Actor Gary Coleman died a few days ago and now it seems that multiple Wills surfaced. Gary Coleman is famous for his part in the television series Diff’rent Strokes. His estate looks likely to be disputed by his ex-wife, Shannon Price, a mystery woman, Anna Gray and his former manager, Don Mial. You can read more details here.

What can we learn from such disputes like this and this? Writing a Will is not sufficient if you have substantial assets or if there will arise a situation where someone will contest your Will. Disputes like these do not only happen to the famous. It happens in Malaysia as well but usually they are not reported in the media.

In such situations, you may need more advance planning including setting up a trust.

I received this email recently asking for advised. Let’s say her name is Sandy.

Sandy wrote
My father died interstate without writing a will. My mother was made the administrator for his estate. Before my father’s estate can be resolved, my mother passed away. She has written a will before she died. Her will named 2 executors.

Who is now the legitimate administrator for my father’s estate. She has savings in fixed deposit in bank. Who is to distribute this? Two of her beneficiaries has died and 5 beneficiaries remain.

Situations like this can happen even though most people think it is not common. The email came from overseas so I’m not familiar with laws there. However, the best way to avoid this from happening in the first place is to:

1. Write your will and make sure your Will is updated
2. Have backup executors preferably one that is a trustee company

Read about when to update your Will here