You can leave a specific sum of money, property or a personal item to a particular person or charity. Here's how to add one on EveryWill.
1. Go to the Estate & Gifts step and find the specific-gifts question, 'Would you like to leave any specific gifts?'
2. Choose to add a gift, then pick the type — money, property, or a personal item.
3. Enter the details. For a money gift, that's the amount; for property, enter the property address; for a personal item, the on-screen prompt suggests describing it clearly so there's no confusion later.
4. Choose who the gift is for.
A couple of things worth knowing:
- Specific gifts come out first. A specific gift is generally set aside before the residuary estate is divided — so what's left for your residuary beneficiaries is what remains after specific gifts, debts, and expenses are handled.
- Recipients need to survive you by 30 days. The Will created by our platform provides that a recipient must survive you by 30 days to receive their gift. If they don't, the gift generally becomes part of your residuary estate — unless the recipient is your child with surviving descendants of their own, in which case the gift passes to those descendants instead.
- Some assets may not pass through a Will at all. Certain assets — such as retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and Pay-on-Death or Transfer-on-Death accounts — generally pass by beneficiary designation to the person named, regardless of what a Will says. See What are beneficiary designations? for more.
If you need personalized legal advice, you may wish to consult an estate planning attorney in your state.
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EveryWill is not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. This article is provided for educational purposes only; it is not, and should not be taken as, legal, tax, or financial advice. Laws vary by state and change over time, and this article is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney licensed in your state who knows your circumstances. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship with EveryWill. Use of EveryWill’s platform and services is subject to its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.