What is a will?

• Names your beneficiaries — the people or organizations who inherit.
• Names an executor — the person you trust to gather your assets, pay any debts, and hand out what's left.
• Names a guardian for children who are still minors.
• Can leave specific gifts ("my watch to my brother") as well as shares of everything else.

A will does not cover everything. Some things pass outside of it — a life-insurance payout or a retirement account goes to whoever you named on that account, and property you own jointly usually passes straight to the other owner. A will also does not avoid probate (see Wills and trusts), and it says nothing about your medical care while you're alive — that's a separate document.

If you die without a will, the law decides who inherits, using a fixed order of relatives. That may not match what you would have chosen, it can take longer, and it leaves the choice of who's in charge to a court rather than to you. Dying without a will is called dying "intestate."

A will is not something you write once and forget. If you can't find yours, or it was written a long time ago, it is worth getting a new or updated one.

The usual reasons a will stops matching what you want: a marriage, divorce, birth or death in the family; moving to another state; buying or selling property; or an executor or beneficiary who has died or is no longer the right choice.

A will nobody can find does not take effect. Once you have one, keep a copy here and record where the signed original is kept and who holds it — that is what the Where is the original kept? and Who has the original? fields on a document are for.

• Estate — everything you own at death, minus what you owe.
• Executor — the person you appoint to carry out your will.
• Beneficiary — someone who inherits from you.
• Probate — the court process that confirms a will is valid and gives the executor authority to act.