Beneficiaries are the people or charities who'll inherit from your estate. You can update them any time to reflect life changes, new relationships, or a change of heart.
Willful now shows your beneficiaries in tiers, so you can see exactly who inherits, and in what order, at a glance:
Primary beneficiaries are first in line. They're the people or charities who'll inherit your estate.
Secondary beneficiaries are the backup for a primary beneficiary. If a primary beneficiary passes away before you, their share goes to their secondary beneficiaries instead.
Contingent beneficiaries are your ultimate backup. They only inherit if every primary and secondary beneficiary has passed away before you. You can name as many as you like and set the percentage each one receives.
Step 1: Go to your estate allocations
Log into your Willful account
Select Menu in the top right
Click Edit your will
Scroll to Step 3: Your estate
Step 2: Start with a suggestion, or start from scratch
If you're making your will for the first time, Willful may suggest a starting point based on your family, like leaving everything to your spouse, with your kids as the backup.
Click Looks good, use as a starting point to accept it and edit from there
Click Let me start from scratch to build your beneficiaries from nothing
Either way, you can change every name, share, and backup plan afterward.
Step 3: Add your primary beneficiaries
Click + Add a primary beneficiary
Choose Person or Charity
Select an existing contact from your saved list, or add a new one
Enter the share they should receive
Willful saves the names of family members and appointees, like guardians, executors, and past beneficiaries, in a reusable contacts list, so you can pick them again here.
Add all your primary beneficiaries before moving on, and make sure their shares add up to 100%.
Step 4: Decide what happens if a primary beneficiary passes away first
For each primary beneficiary, you'll be asked what should happen to their share if they pass away before you. Choose one:
Their children: Their share is split evenly between their children. If they don't have any, it's split evenly between your other primary beneficiaries.
Other primary beneficiaries: Their share is split evenly between your remaining primary beneficiaries. This option only shows up once you have more than one primary beneficiary.
Specific beneficiaries: Choose specific people or charities to receive their share, and set the percentage each one gets.
Whoever you name here shows up automatically under Secondary on your beneficiaries page.
Your secondary beneficiaries are populated automatically based on the choices you made in step 4. You can also add more of your own:
Click + Add new secondary
Choose Person or Charity, and select or add a contact
Enter their share
Secondary beneficiaries get their own backup plan too. If you'd like to change what happens if one of them passes away before you, click on their card and choose their children, other secondary beneficiaries, or specific beneficiaries, the same way you did for your primary beneficiaries.
Keep an eye on the total at the top of the Secondary section. It'll tell you if your shares are under or over 100%.
Step 6: Appoint contingent beneficiaries (optional)
Contingent beneficiaries are your estate's ultimate backup. They only inherit if every primary and secondary beneficiary has passed away before you.
Click + Add new contingent
Choose Person or Charity, and select or add a contact
Enter the share they should receive
If you don't name a contingent beneficiary and everyone else has passed away before you, your estate is distributed according to your province's law, usually to your closest living relatives. If none can be found, it goes to the government.
Step 7: Save your decisions
Click Save. If you haven't provided for a spouse or children, Willful will give you a heads-up, since most provinces require you to provide for your dependents. If you've done this on purpose, it's a good idea to check with a lawyer to make sure your will complies with family law in your province.
Reminder: Don't forget to download and/or print, then sign and witness your updated will for the changes to be legally valid.