Wills & Living Trusts

I am often asked why a single person should make a Will. In some cases it probably is not worth the effort and expense, agreed. BUT if you have a good job, a comfortable home, and even worse if you are a long way from your family then you should think carefully about what this would mean to your surviving next of kin.

We will go in chronological order.

1. Late 20’s, early 30s. Well educated, good job, bright prospects for the future. Salary in the bank at the end of each month, expenses paid for some things, and plenty of disposable income.

2. Hobbies: Windsurfing, mountain climbing, skydiving, Scuba diving. Risk factor? Off the scale for some insurerers!

3. Family situation. Girl/boy friend – sort of, but nothing serious. Parents? Very proud of you, but don’t know Hong Kong having been out for a holiday once, and that was enough. They get on with their lives at home and wouldn’t know one end of an ID card from the other.

Under these circumstances, it is your parents who will have to get on a plane to Hong Kong (and let’s hope it is not in the hot or rainy season) retrieve your personal effects if they are allowed to, deal with the probate office and the IRD. They will have to pay for travel and accommodation themselves. If they want to take you home for a funeral (which they probably will) they must find the money for the cost of transporting your body. Ultimately your estate will become their property, unless you have begotten a child in which case it would all go into trust for him/her, but your parents as next of kin will have to do the paperwork. The alternative is that they will have to employ one of the law firms here to do the work for them, and pay them, quite possibly before the money, if there is any, is released to them. Your company might help if they are feeling generous, but don’t count on it.

For the cost of a Will, $2000 HK, you can arrange things properly and take the burden off their shoulders. Appoint one of your friends here who knows the place as your executor, and do the same for him or her. Make sure your health insurance covers repatriation of a body in the event of death. Arrange for your personal items (‘Chattels’) to be shipped home so that they can be sorted out there. And do remember that most children expect their parents to predecease them. To lose a child at whatever stage of your life is one of the worst experiences that can happen to anyone. Your parents will already be in a state of shock and depression, would you wish this on them as well?
Enough said, I think.

1. Middle age: 35-55. Divorced, or never married. Maybe a child or two in their teens. Parents at home aging. Maybe grown up children at University, or trekking round the world doing their ‘gap’year. No Will? Children under 18 made Wards of Court and not allowed out of the country until a Guardian is appointed.

2. No children? Then you are likely to be better off than most and the prospect of Estate Duty looms. Easily fixed if you do the right thing at the right time, but a nightmare if you don’t. Parents, one or both, may depend on you for their home comforts, and those will stop until your money is released. We are probably contemplating years rather than months. No parents? Then there will be money spent on tracking down the next of kin in the right order. Anyone who enjoys financial support here will have to manage without it.

3. Over 50? Your parents are still next of kin if you have no children! By this time they are in their late 70’s, early 80’s or even more. If you have children they will have to take charge of the legal processes or pay for someone else to do it.

I hope all this has made you think a little about the consequences of doing nothing. Wills only have to be done once in a while, and we take our responsibility for keeping them up to date very seriously at SAR. You are never longer than 12 months away from making changes when appropriate.