Thinking about my will

[roboticanary]

OK, sorry for the morbid topic but it is something that I was talking about recently.

For most romantic people the will seems kind of simple, I was talking to my grandad about this because he was dealing with writing up his will. If he didn't write anything and just suddenly died the will would be split with the following order: spouse, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren (if none it goes to the state).

So as my nan has already died his assets would pass to his children (my mum and my uncle would split it). He made up a will as a way to make sure some things went to close friends and that there were a few things that went to specific grandchildren and a few things to more distant family members.

It got me thinking, what do I want my will to look like given I know i am aromantic.

I am pretty confident I will never have a spouse and will never have kids, so what would I actually do. At the moment I hopefully have a fair bit of time to set myself up for this, but my thoughts are this.

Assuming my parents die befor me most of what I own would go to my younger brother. He would certainly get most of the stuff because I wouldn't want to burden a friend with that.

There are a couple of charities I would put some money to

The rest possibly to a few close friends, though that would basically be little sentimental things or a bit of money

 

So a couple of questions for people here because I wonder if you have some good ideas

 

1. roughly how would you split up a will as an aromantic person?

2. If you are open to forming a nonromantic form of relationship, would you go through with marriage to get the useful legal benefits of being a spouse, like that automatic inheritance?

[alto]

I definitely would want to turn over control of my Amazon account to whatever close friend I have at the time.  I have no money, so that's the most important thing for me (i'm an author through KDP and don't want my books to go out of print when I die)

[BuySomeCheese]

I do definately want kids, so I'll leave a lot to them (and my grand-kids or in-laws, depending on how old I am when I die). Hopefully my younger brother, too, and maybe some of my half-siblings if we get closer over our lifetimes. My younger cousins and extended family will get things, and I'll probably end up leaving things to my close friends and charities. I don't know what will go to each person, because I don't know what I'll have when I die and I currently have no money lol. If I have a committed relationship(s) then those will be prioritized along with my kids, but I don't see that happening

[nonmerci]

I don't really know. I suppose some will pass to my friends, but I would probably give to associations against disease like cancer, or for mental health.

[FragileDear]

I currently don't have a dog anymore, but plan to get another one or pet of some sorts when I feel ready. I would probably put some towards the cost and care of looking after my dog to make sure they are well taken care of, some towards associations/charities I support, and maybe some towards family and friends. 

[Holmbo]

I probably would give it all to charity.

[Apathetic Echidna]

I already have the charities picked out, but while my parents are alive I'll let it default to them. I do have some specialised stuff and deceased estate auctions suck, so I guess I would have to figure something out to deal with all the family heirlooms (I am the end of the line so I have no close blood cousins to pass that on to)

Just so you know, recently I've had several people die or be executors of wills and leaving small amounts of money can end up costing much more than just giving them an item. Depending on how the laws work where you are, and how much money it is, and what country the recievee is in, there may be a bunch of legal or processing fees. Same goes for leaving them a share in something, like a property or stock portfolio.   

[roboticanary]

Cheers for everyone suggesting their ideas. Love the fact that charity is so often mentioned, one of the things that I have seen with a few people I know is that passing the wealth down through family comes first, charity is there but its whatever dregs are left after the children are sorted.