Is nomination enough for estate planning?

Nomination is one of the basic things that you may have done as a part of the process while buying financial assets or maybe while opening a bank account. But this is many times ignored by people. They even forget to update as they move further into the life cycle stage. There are certain instances like before marriage you nominate your parents, however, many people forget to update the same after marriage and fail to include their spouse in the nomination.

There is also a notion among the people that if they have done the nomination and are also regularly updating, means they are doing estate planning. Though it is a part of estate planning you seriously need to sit down and rethink on how you wish to distribute your assets when you are not around. Nomination just makes the nominee trustee of assets and it becomes the duty of the nominee to distribute it among legal heirs. Organizations usually urge for nomination as it sets them free from the obligation of distributing assets to legal heirs on your behalf. But in case if the nomination is not available for some reasons, the assets are distributed among the legal heirs equally.

So, it becomes crucial for you not to depend on the nomination and have a valid written and registered will in place. This will help you to easily transfer your assets as you wish after your demise. A valid will overrides nomination. A will with probate is difficult to challenge in court. This can avoid future conflicts among your legal heirs. However, it can prove to be expensive. Though these days many advisers suggest going for trust, this can prove to be a costly affair.

Which option to choose for estate planning certainly depends on various aspects such as family structure, assets involved, complex relationships, succession law applicable (as in India, different religion have their own set of succession law), etc. Take the help of a legal expert along with financial planner to arrive at a suitable option.