Question: I have four children to whom I want to bequeath my estate equally. If I divide my investments into four accounts and name each of them the beneficiary of one of them, do I still need a will?
A: Yes; I think you still need a will. Wills do more than just hand over your things to loved ones after you die. For example, you can appoint the person who ends your affairs or you can appoint a guardian for your minor children and establish a testamentary trust for them. Wills offer many possibilities and options for estate planning.
What would concern me more is that the estate plan you are proposing can lead to all kinds of potential problems.
Now I love that you think about probate avoidance and know how you want to treat each of your beneficiaries. These two elements are important in any comprehensive estate plan. My concern is that you are not considering the potential problems that could arise from what you have in mind.
For example, if you designate beneficiaries for all of your assets, who will pay your final expenses and potential creditors? If all the money is spoken for, the kids can all contribute funds to pay off creditors and your final expenses or maybe they won’t. If they don’t all contribute voluntarily, one of them may end up paying these things out of their share or maybe an estate will have to be opened to recover some of the unlicensed assets in order to satisfy the creditors.