Dying without a will causes potentially huge complications for family, friends and relatives left behind with tax and financial implications, not to mention stress for all involved.

A will gives you control. Typically, it spells out who will serve as the executor as well as who will receive assets belonging to the decedent and under what terms.

It is a common misconception that even if there is no will everything goes directly to your spouse, but this is not the case. Depending on the value of assets in the estate a spouse may only be entitled to a proportion of this.