Five Non-Financial Reasons to do a Will

While the primary purpose of any Will is to ensure your valuable property passes in accordance with your wishes, it is often forgotten that a Will can accomplish several non-financial objectives. HSM Partner Robert Mark shares these details as they pertain to Wills in the Cayman Islands.

Guardianship of Children & Pets

Where minor children are involved, a Will should nominate one or more individuals to take on parental responsibility where necessary. This is a highly personal choice and best not left to the courts to decide.

Many pet lovers will be keen to ensure someone is designated to care for their treasured companions. Such provisions can often be complex, especially for pets with long life expectancies, such as parrots or turtles which can live up to 100 years. Even the most common of pets, the humble dog, can live up to 30 years! A suitable pet guardian needs to be appointed with sufficient funds earmarked for pet care costs, indexed to inflation. Since there is scope for fraud by a pet guardian, provisions can be added to ensure a pet is (a) given adequate food and shelter (b) given regular health checks and (c) are microchipped to ensure they are not swapped out with an animal similar in appearance when the designated pet dies. Where a pet is of breeding age, thought also must be given to whether (or not) provisions should be made to support the pet’s offspring or arrange for them to be housed with another pet owner.

Funeral Arrangements

Sometimes specific arrangements are included for personal or religious reasons. For example, in the Jewish and Islamic traditions cremation is not generally permitted. Other protocols rooted in religious tradition can be specified in a Will to ensure conformity with such traditions.

For secular reasons it is often desirable to be as specific as possible about final arrangements, otherwise the family or the executors will be forced to guess which arrangements are most appropriate, which will cause added stress to the family at a difficult time.

Paying in advance for the funeral is an extremely selfless act. Such arrangements can be referenced in a Will so the executors know it has been dealt with.

Gifts of Sentimental Items

It is possible to designate any item of sentimental value to recipients of your choice. This could be treasured photos, jewelry, or other items of a personal nature. This enables designated heirlooms to remain with the family for future generations to enjoy.

Digital Assets & Social Media Management

Virtual or digital property with minimal or sentimental value such as photos & video files, documents, and online music collections can be dealt with in a Will.

Valuable virtual property such as cryptocurrencies, websites, domain names, virtual payment wallets, intellectual property, store credits, airmiles, and online gaming accounts can also be identified in a Will so they are not overlooked.

Management of an online presence posthumously is also possible. This will enable the executors to manage social media accounts and post any final messages before deactivation. This will spare the executors the arduous task of dealing with large social media organizations. There may also be reasons to maintain a social media account posthumously, for example, if online content created by the deceased continues to produce revenue for the estate.

Testamentary Freedom

In the Cayman Islands there is no legislation which can prevent an otherwise mentally competent adult from disposing of their Cayman property by their Will as they see fit. So long as the Will is technically valid, and the assets subject to the Will are the lawful property of the testator / testatrix, any lawful instructions in the Will must be carried out by the executors as specified. This is not the case in many other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, which has laws in place that restricts testamentary freedom.