A Will, or a Last Will and Testament, is a legal document that describes how you would like your property and other assets to be distributed after your death. When you make a Will, you can also use it to nominate guardians for your children, dependents, or pets.
From your estate, you can choose to leave specific gifts to individuals, as well as legacy donations to charities and organizations that are close to your heart. Anything left over is called your ‘residual estate,’ or simply ‘the residue.’ The most current version of your will, if executed wholly and correctly, should override previous versions of your will or verbal agreements you may have made during your lifetime.
A Will can be a very simple document or one that is complex and contains codicils. A codicil is a Will amendment, a statement that adds to or changes the Will in some way without having to rewrite the entire Will.