A Practical Guide to 20 Things You’re Forgetting in Your Will
Most individuals remember major possessions like their primary home, primary bank accounts, and vehicles. However, overlooking secondary or unconventional items causes administrative bottlenecks. Here are 20 common items forgotten in a will and the exact reasons they demand your attention.
1. Digital Assets and Online Accounts
Modern estates encompass significant digital footprints, including email accounts, cloud photo libraries, domain names, and cryptocurrency wallets. Under federal statutes such as the Stored Communications Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, an executor cannot legally access your online accounts simply by knowing your passwords. Under the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), online legacy settings take highest priority, followed by explicit instructions in your will. You must grant your executor express legal authority to manage or close these accounts.
2. Companion Animals and Pet Care Directives
In probate law, pets are classified as personal property; you cannot leave money directly to an animal. If you fail to designate a caretaker, your companion animal could end up in a shelter or become the subject of family conflict. As of 2016, all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., enforce statutory pet trusts. You can legally designate a primary caregiver, name an alternate, and allocate a dedicated sum of money to cover food, medical care, and housing throughout your pet’s life.
3. The Residuary Clause
A residuary clause distributes all remaining property not specifically assigned to an individual. Forgetting this clause creates partial intestacy; any asset acquired after drafting the will, or any gift whose primary beneficiary predeceases you without a named backup, falls outside testamentary distribution. State intestacy laws will then dictate who inherits those assets regardless of your verbal intentions.
4. Airline Miles, Hotel Points, and Credit Card Rewards
Loyalty balances often carry thousands of dollars in travel or cash value. While airline terms of service vary, many loyalty programs allow the transfer of accumulated miles to surviving beneficiaries upon presentation of a death certificate and court letters of administration. Documenting account numbers and providing transfer authority in your estate records prevents these valuable rewards from expiring unnoticed.
5. Alternate (Contingent) Executors
Naming a single executor creates severe vulnerability. If your chosen personal representative becomes incapacitated, declines to serve, or predeceases you, the probate court must step in and appoint an administrator of its choosing. Naming at least one or two contingent executors ensures that a trusted individual manages your affairs without judicial delays.
6. Backup Guardians for Minor Children
Naming a primary legal guardian for minor children is standard practice, but life circumstances change. Your primary nominee might experience severe illness, relocate internationally, or pass away before your children reach adulthood. Naming secondary and tertiary guardians safeguards your children from temporary state custody or contested guardianship hearings.
7. Tangible Sentimental Items and Personal Property Lists
Family disputes frequently arise over items with high emotional but low monetary value, such as photo albums, wedding china, military medals, and jewelry. Many states allow you to reference a separate personal property memorandum in your will. This informal document lets you assign specific sentimental items to particular family members and update the list over time without rewriting your formal will.
8. Debt, Final Expense, and Tax Apportionment Clauses
If you do not specify which assets should pay your final debts, funeral costs, and administrative fees, state default rules determine which accounts are liquidated first. This can inadvertently reduce the inheritance of a specific loved one. A clear tax and expense apportionment clause specifies whether debts come out of your residuary estate or are shared proportionately among all beneficiaries.
9. Intellectual Property, Royalties, and Creative Rights
If you own patents, registered trademarks, book copyrights, musical compositions, software code, or monetized blogs, these assets generate revenue long after your death. Copyright protections generally last for the author’s life plus 70 years. Your will should explicitly direct who manages these licensing rights and receives ongoing royalty distributions.
10. Safe Deposit Boxes, Storage Units, and Hidden Valuables
Valuables stored in off-site safe deposit boxes or private storage units often go unclaimed because executors remain unaware of their existence. Banks strictly freeze safe deposit boxes upon the owner’s death until the court grants specific access orders. Detail the physical location of all boxes, storage units, safe combinations, and keys in an accessible asset inventory attached to your planning records.
11. Forgiveness or Enforcement of Family Loans
If you loaned money to a family member or friend, your death leaves that debt in legal limbo unless your will addresses it. Without written instructions, your executor may have a fiduciary duty to pursue legal collection against your loved one. Clarify whether your estate should collect outstanding promissory notes or forgive the remaining balance entirely as a testamentary gift.
12. Memorial, Burial, and Organ Donation Wishes
Wills are often read days or weeks after a funeral, meaning burial preferences recorded solely in a will might come too late. While your will should state your general directives regarding cremation, burial, and anatomical gifts, you should pair it with a separate, immediate healthcare directive and designate an agent for the disposition of remains to avoid family disputes during mourning.
13. Real Estate Timeshares and Deeded Vacation Interests
Timeshares represent ongoing financial liabilities through perpetual maintenance fees, special assessments, and annual dues. If you own a deeded timeshare interest, it passes through probate in the state where the property is located, potentially forcing your estate into ancillary probate court. Explicitly address your timeshare so beneficiaries can accept it or execute timely legal disclaimers.
14. Digital Storefronts and Creator Revenue Accounts
Many individuals operate side businesses through platforms like Etsy, eBay, Amazon Seller Central, YouTube, or Patreon. These platforms hold accrued balances and merchant inventory. Your will should authorize your executor to manage digital operations, fulfill open orders, collect final merchant payouts, and close merchant accounts in compliance with platform terms.
15. Age Delays and Protective Trusts for Young Beneficiaries
Leaving outright inheritances to young adults aged 18 or 21 can lead to rapid financial depletion. You can use your will to establish a testamentary trust that holds funds until beneficiaries reach mature milestones, such as ages 25, 30, or completion of higher education. You can also permit the trustee to distribute funds early for necessary health, education, maintenance, and support.
16. Explicit Inclusion or Exclusion of Stepchildren
Under state intestacy laws, biological and legally adopted children inherit automatically, but stepchildren and foster children possess no default inheritance rights. If you wish to treat stepchildren equally alongside biological children, you must explicitly name them as beneficiaries. Conversely, if you intend to exclude specific individuals, clear language prevents future challenges based on claims of accidental omission.
17. Sole Proprietorship and Small Business Succession
Unlike corporations or LLCs with operating agreements, a sole proprietorship ceases to operate legally upon the owner’s death unless your estate plan provides otherwise. Without express authority, your executor cannot legally make payroll, sign company checks, or sell business assets. Provide clear instructions for winding down operations or transferring business property.
18. Recurring Subscriptions and Automatic Account Debits
Streaming platforms, software suites, gym memberships, and cloud storage providers continue drafting monthly fees from bank accounts until formally notified. While you should not list individual services inside the will itself, your estate plan should authorize your executor to access financial records and immediately cancel recurring obligations to prevent estate shrinkage.
19. Survivorship and Simultaneous Death Clauses
If you and your primary beneficiary pass away in a common accident, simultaneous death rules dictate how assets transfer. A standard survivorship clause requires a beneficiary to survive you by a set period—such as 30, 60, or 120 days—to inherit. This provision prevents assets from passing through two separate probate administrations within days, reducing court fees and double taxation.
20. Beneficiary Designation Alignment
One of the most critical things to include in your will review is checking how it coordinates with non-probate accounts. Contracts govern 401(k)s, IRAs, life insurance policies, and Transfer on Death (TOD) accounts; these beneficiary forms supersede any contradictory instructions written in a will. Aligning these designations with your will ensures your assets reach your intended recipients without legal gridlock.
