Standard Legal’s Wills for couples are meant to be created individually; it makes more sense for each spouse to have a separate Will than to create one jointly. Further, each Will states, “In the event that my spouse shall die simultaneously with me…I direct that I shall be deemed to have predeceased my spouse.”<\/p>\n
This language in both Will is, in fact, appropriate. And while it may appear contradictory, it is in fact intentional. <\/p>\n
By including this “predeceased my spouse” language in both Wills, a presumption arises that each spouse died before the other, thereby allowing the language of the Will of the other spouse to be deemed to control.\u00a0 This will eliminate the need for a court determination of who died first and whose Last Will & Testament controls the disbursement of assets.<\/p>\n
Without such language, a probate proceeding may be required to determine who died first and whose Will controls. Including this language in both Wills simply works to avoid such probate proceeding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"