ave you ever thought about that only one paper can change the lives a lot of children? With making your last will and testament you can take care of everything and everyone who is important for you. You can ensure your children, family and friends. You can do something imperishable and even help a cause which is really important for you.
Usually we are not just afraid of the thought of death but from the thought what will happen after that? What are we going to leave on this earth? Life.
With making your last will and testament you can take care of everything and everyone who is important for you.
You probably told your family and friends how you would like to them to inherit your property, valuable and personal belongings but from legal aspects it means nothing. If you pass away without writing your last will the law of succession will decide who will inherit your properties, and the wishes, you wanted to full fill, will not be unnoted. We have collected you the pitfalls of the succession in case you don’t have your last will and testament or appropriate legal provision written.
We have the opportunity to take care of our loved ones, but we cannot rely on fate.
The spouse does not inherit your properties automatically.
If you are married then your spouse will be one of the beneficiaries but it does not mean that he/she will inherit everything you owned before. According to the legal law of succession if you have children, your spouse inherits the right of usufruct until her/his death and can leave in the same house in which you have leaved together before. From the rest of the inheritance he/she will be granted with one “children-part”.
The spouse cannot inherit anything, if at the opening of the succession the couple “were not together”, there was not emotional, economical connection and sense of belonging together. These circumstances mean that there was no prospect of restoring their shared community of life.
The common-law spouse does not inherit from his/her common-law spouse.
Nowadays not all the couples marry. The common-law spouse will be entitled to anything automatically, because the law of succession does not apply to unlawful marital relationships. The law only protects the institution of marriage, in case of common-law marriage the common-law partners are free to dispose of the inheritance. This way if our common-law partner passes away without writing his/her last will and testament, you will not be automatically entitled to his/her property. If you have children together, they will inherit the property as lineal descendant.
When you do not leave with your spouse together, you can still inherit.
If a couple lives permanently apart but does not divorce, a situation that is debatable in terms of succession law arises. They remain married, so they remain successor, but only if they can prove that the community of life (at least in economic and emotional terms) has remained unchanged between them despite separation (this can be very difficult to prove). To avoid this situation the only solution is writing the last will and testament.
Unexpected tragedies can happen anytime
Last wills are considered by many to be taboo that do not need to be addressed before old age. This leads to the fact that in time of illness and vulnerability life arranges the fate and wealth of the testator quite differently than he would have liked or could have done.
As per no one know what tomorrow brings, we should be prepared for anything. If the circumstances change later on and we would like to organise the succession differently, we can change the last will anytime in our life.
There are changes and milestones in our life, where we can ask ourselves, who should inherit everything we own. These milestones are purchase of real estate, a wedding, the born of a child, divorce or an unexpected illness.
So, the family doesn’t have a quarrel…
You may have told your family and friends what your wishes are regarding the succession, but from legal aspects it means nothing if you do not have your last will written.
If you pass away without your last will, the order of succession takes place and the law of succession will decide who inherits what, and your wishes will not be noted.
There is a succession order that determines which relative may be eligible for what.
This means that some people will inherit (even against your wishes), while some may be left out altogether. Therefore, it is important to record your decisions in the last will.
Purchase of real estate
If we are buying a property with someone, it is worth deciding how to share the property. This is because it determines what proportion of our estate will be the subject of our estate. A house or apartment is a significant asset, so when making a will, it’s a good idea to turn to an expert advisor to make sure you have a valid possession and that the heir is for whom it is intended.
During will writing you may come across terms you may not have heard before. Here is an explanation of the most commonly used terms.
New will: If a new will is completed, all wills you have written in the past will be considered revoked. Moreover, most will start with a document you write revoking previous wills.
You can write your new will with a notary or a lawyer with expertise in such matters, who can be found on our website. As the subsequent amendment or supplementation of the will may result in ambiguous situations, we recommend that if you wish for another will, everything should be reorganized in one document.
Heritage: there are different types of heritages
real estate inheritance: the gift of piece of real estate that remains after payment of debts and all other gifts. You can also give away all real estate or shares.
moveable inheritance: a fixed amount of monetary gift. The downside to this is that over time, inflation will decrease in value.
special inheritance: a specifically named souvenir in the will. This could be, for example, a piece of jewellery, furniture or painting.
General rate of inheritance tax: This must be paid by the heir after the inheritance. In general, unless otherwise provided by the Tax Act, 18% is the net value of the inheritance paid to each heir. In the case of free acquisition of home ownership and property rights related to home ownership, the inheritance tax rate is 9%.
Legal inheritance: Refers to an inheritance when the deceased has not made a will and has not provided otherwise, and the legal order of succession applies.
Inheritance proceedings: If someone has made a will, the proceedings concerning the transfer of the inheritance are carried out by the competent notary.
Inheritance clear value: The remainder of your estate after the so-called probate burdens were satisfied.
: The person who made a will.
During our life, we accumulate not only wealth, but also many personal values, keep passwords and codes in our heads, and collect photos. We meet a lot of people, family relationships deteriorate, lifelong friendships are born, we can help organizations and help us in difficult life situations. If you’ve already decided you want to write a will before you get involved, there are a few things to think about. We can help you!
How much wealth do you have?
Before making a will, it is definitely worth thinking about how much real estate you can dispose of. Your assets include everything you own: real estate, movables: cars, personal belongings and cash, bank account money, securities, property rights: copyrights, company shares, rental rights, usage rights etc. From these you must deduct all your debts, which can be mortgage, loan, overdraft or any contractual overdue payment obligation.
Who played an important role in your life?
Once you have taken care of your family and friends, you may decide to make a donation to a charity close to you. Is there a foundation that has helped you or a loved one? Which issues are important to you?
>By thinking of an organization close to his heart in his/her will, he/she can ensure their work and the good purpose they serve will continue to prevail in the future.
How do you want to distribute your wealth?
You can donate any of your property, be it a specific object, cash or a certain portion of your property.
You can also provide for your business interests in your will: for example, you can leave your shares in the family business to your child, which can also be beneficial for tax purposes.
In addition, you can determine which family member or friend you will leave your personal belongings to.
If you decide you would be happy to support a good cause, you may want to contact the foundation concerned to find out what constitutes real help for them. For many organizations, material donations and real estate are only a burden, they are difficult to utilize.
Have you also thought about your digital devices?
Today, the amount of our digital assets stored online is growing: from our email and Facebook accounts, through our online passwords, to our digital music and pictures.
In your will, you can also pass these on to your family and friends.
Check out our list to help you organize your digital assets.
Click here to download our list.
How to write a will?
The testator may even write a will himself from the beginning to the end, with two witnesses. While regulation may seem simple, the will can very easily be invalid if we accidentally fail to follow some of the special formalities required by law. Would you have thought that a will that was otherwise completely comprehensible could be invalid, either because of an incomplete date, because of the lack of numbering per sheet, or because the witnesses were forgotten to appear on each sheet?
If you do not want to prepare the will alone, we recommend that you contact any notary.
How can you keep your will?
It is not advisable to keep a will at home. The safest way to keep it is to deposit it with any notary public in the National Register of Wills. (This has a one-time, symbolic fee.)
How do you change your will if circumstances change?
Our lives are constantly changing, so we may no longer want to maintain parts of the will we wrote earlier. In this case, we need to amend our will. It is not enough to just pull out the invalid parts and overwrite the new text, these changes will be invalid and after his death the order of legal succession will prevail.
If you want to change your will, there are two ways to do so. He writes an additional will, which refers back to the original will and lists the amendments, or he can make a completely new will, subject to the appropriate legal rules on formality. Keep in mind that if you choose the supplement, both the original and the amended document will be public if a probate hearing takes place. If you do not want anyone to know the contents of the original will before the changes are made, it is recommended that you create a new document.
We promise that …
A will is everyone’s own personal affair that we respect. Therefore, we never ask you to declare your intentions, however we are grateful if you share your decision with us, the reason for your decision and tell us your story.
If you choose to mention SOS Children’s Villages in your will, we promise you the following:
We understand that your family and loved ones are the first for you
We do not want to put any pressure on you and we will respect your decision.
You can change your decision about the legacy to us at any time.
We treat all gifts with respect and appropriate sensitivity, and protect your personal data to the maximum.
We take great care of your gift and use it to give the best possible support to the children living in SOS.
During our life, we accumulate not only wealth, but also many personal values, keep passwords and codes in our heads, and collect photos. We meet a lot of people, family relationships deteriorate, lifelong friendships are born, we can help organizations and help us in difficult life situations. If you’ve already decided you want to write a will before you get involved, there are a few things to think about. We can help you!
How much wealth do you have?
Before making a will, it is definitely worth thinking about how much real estate you can dispose of. Your assets include everything you own: real estate, movables: cars, personal belongings and cash, bank account money, securities, property rights: copyrights, company shares, rental rights, usage rights etc. From these you must deduct all your debts, which can be mortgage, loan, overdraft or any contractual overdue payment obligation.
Who played an important role in your life?
Once you have taken care of your family and friends, you may decide to make a donation to a charity close to you. Is there a foundation that has helped you or a loved one? Which issues are important to you?
By thinking of an organization close to his heart in his/her will, he/she can ensure their work and the good purpose they serve will continue to prevail in the future.
How do you want to distribute your wealth?
You can donate any of your property, be it a specific object, cash or a certain portion of your property.
You can also provide for your business interests in your will: for example, you can leave your shares in the family business to your child, which can also be beneficial for tax purposes.
In addition, you can determine which family member or friend you will leave your personal belongings to.
If you decide you would be happy to support a good cause, you may want to contact the foundation concerned to find out what constitutes real help for them. For many organizations, material donations and real estate are only a burden, they are difficult to utilize.
Have you also thought about your digital devices?
Today, the amount of our digital assets stored online is growing: from our email and Facebook accounts, through our online passwords, to our digital music and pictures.
In your will, you can also pass these on to your family and friends.
Check out our list to help you organize your digital assets.
Click here to download our list.
How to write a will?
The testator may even write a will himself from the beginning to the end, with two witnesses. While regulation may seem simple, the will can very easily be invalid if we accidentally fail to follow some of the special formalities required by law. Would you have thought that a will that was otherwise completely comprehensible could be invalid, either because of an incomplete date, because of the lack of numbering per sheet, or because the witnesses were forgotten to appear on each sheet?
If you do not want to prepare the will alone, we recommend that you contact any notary.
How can you keep your will?
It is not advisable to keep a will at home. The safest way to keep it is to deposit it with any notary public in the National Register of Wills. (This has a one-time, symbolic fee.)
How do you change your will if circumstances change?
Our lives are constantly changing, so we may no longer want to maintain parts of the will we wrote earlier. In this case, we need to amend our will. It is not enough to just pull out the invalid parts and overwrite the new text, these changes will be invalid and after his death the order of legal succession will prevail.
If you want to change your will, there are two ways to do so. He writes an additional will, which refers back to the original will and lists the amendments, or he can make a completely new will, subject to the appropriate legal rules on formality. Keep in mind that if you choose the supplement, both the original and the amended document will be public if a probate hearing takes place. If you do not want anyone to know the contents of the original will before the changes are made, it is recommended that you create a new document.
We promise that …
A will is everyone’s own personal affair that we respect. Therefore, we never ask you to declare your intentions, however we are grateful if you share your decision with us, the reason for your decision and tell us your story.
