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| Robin William’s family is now battling over his estate and assets because he did not have a proper will. |
Robin Williams was a one in a million, but he was also like millions of Americans — he didn’t have a clear will specifying who would inherit his assets. So his family is battling over them.
As a result, the lawyers, not Williams’ loved ones, could end up being the biggest beneficiaries of his huge estate, says Reid Abedeen, a partner at Safeguard Investment Advisory Group.
Abedeen says he was not surprised by a recent RocketLawyer study that showed millions of married Americans with children either do not have a will, or lack an updated one.
About half of married Americans have no will, according to RocketLawyer. And 80 percent of those age 35 to 44 also don’t, the survey said.
Abedeen says the most startling part of the study is that 41 percent of baby boomers age 55 to 64 lack a will.
So why are so many people tempting fate?
“People often find the process of writing a will expensive and inconvenient,” explains Charlie Moore, CEO of RocketLawyer.
Per financial adviser Jeffrey Freidman, people “know that they need to do it, so they will get to it eventually, but that time never comes because they say, ‘I’m healthy and I won’t need it.’ So it’s a low priority.”
Source: NYPost