Chattooga County Tax Commissioner Joy Hampton says that it is important that people prepare by making a will in order to ensure there wishes about not only their property, but also their vehicles.

Hampton said, “A common misconception is that vehicles and land automatically pass to a spouse or child, but that is almost never true”.  The tax commissioner said that often when a person dies without a will she cannot legally discuss their vehicle information with a spouse or child, because the deceased person did not have a will stating who should act in their behalf.

Not having a will also affects real estate.  Hampton says, “Equally as heart wrenching is telling a child or grandchild that even if they pay the property taxes and fix up the home they grew up in, it won’t give them ownership. I venture to say that 90 percent of the properties that have gone to tax sale are the result of a property owner passing away without a will naming an executor.”

Statistics show that almost half of the people who pass away each year in the United States do not have a will.