Pretty straightforward right? Either do nothing or draft a will. The big problem you face if you choose one of those two options in order for your estate to go where it’s supposed to go, your estate has to go through what’s called probate. Probate is a court proceeding where the court steps into the shoes of the deceased person, gathers up that person’s stuff and then distributed either according to the intestacy laws of there’s no plan in place for according to the terms of the will. That’s why we like to describe as a letter of instructions, it’s a letter instructions to the probate court.
A will by itself doesn’t really have any legal effect outside of probate proceeding. Now probates serve an important function in society as an anti-fraud measure. It makes it so that people who are entitled get the notice they’re entitled. Probate makes it so the creditors have a place where they can come and have their claims heard. In general probate is something that most people are trying to avoid
