If you don't care what happens to your property at death, and you don't have minor children on the scene, you probably don't need a will. This, however, is not the usual case. Most of us have people or organizations that we would like to benefit. But, unless these objects of your bounty are the same ones that would receive the property under your state's intestacy rules, they will be out of luck if you don't provide for them by will.
Generally speaking, you can give your property to whomever you wish, and, with a few exceptions, you can't be forced to give your property to anyone just because he or she is a close relative.
The most important exception to this rule involves spouses. In one form or another, almost all of the states provide that a spouse can insist on receiving a specified minimum amount from the estate (often 1/3 to 1/2, depending on whether there are children from the marriage). Thus, if a deceased person's will doesn't give the spouse this minimum amount, the spouse can elect to receive what is known as his or her "forced" or "statutory" share. If this happens, the will remains valid, but the spouse gets the specified share and the amounts received by all other beneficiaries are reduced according the state's applicable probate rules.
Another exception involves contractual wills. If two people execute a joint and mutual will (a single will that is effective to dispose the property of both people), as long as both are living they can make changes to the will anytime they want to. However, once one of them dies, the will becomes irrevocable and unchangeable with respect to the survivor. If this is the case, it generally will not matter that circumstances have changed such that the decedent would have changed the will if he or she were still around to do so.
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Warning
Because a joint and mutual will — or any other form of contractual will — can lock you into a plan for distributing your wealth that is outdated in light of changed circumstances, you may want to avoid such arrangements. If you want to exercise some degree of continuing control over property that you transfer after death, a trust arrangement usually is preferred.
Further, although some people who opt for joint and mutual wills may do so in hope of saving money, such savings will be minimal, if anything at all. The will document will still have to be probated twice (once at the death of each testator), and the cost of preparing such a document will not be materially less than other types of wills.
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