With a will, there is a way

There are some things that should not be put off until tomorrow. One of the these is writing a will. Seriously.

Even if you think you have nothing to settle, even if your standard joke is that you haven’t decided who to leave your debt to, write a will, please.

I say this because a friend of ours died too young the other week, suddenly gone after a very short, brutal illness which proved to be all the things it was ever going to be: horrible, tragic, devastating for his wife, children, parents, siblings, and friends.

Running out of time

Then came the double whammy: he wasn’t married to the person we thought of as his wife and he had left no will.

He was a great guy with a heart of gold, but if you want your loved ones to remember you by shouting obscenities at the heavens, then he is your pinup guy, too.

Left behind, trying to hold their home and family together, his partner of decades is necessarily devastated, but also unnecessarily ashamed and angry, so terribly angry, because it’s not like they had never heard of this very issue – as she said, “stupid men ducking out on stupid women without a will or an I do” – because it happens far too often and is overwhelmingly awful when it does.

They saw a lawyer once and drafted something, but nothing was ever decided, nothing was ever signed.

Instead they went away to think about it and life was busy and the years ticked by and they had all the time in the world… Until they didn’t.

Write your will today

So jot something down on paper now – “I hereby bequeath my estate” is a good start – date it, sign it, and get two people to witness it.

Do it even if you’re planning on getting a lawyer to write something more elaborate.

There are draft wills online; there are lawyers, banks and insurance companies that will help for free.

Write your will. Do it today. Then put it in a folder labelled “When I Die” and leave it readily accessible.

You can add other documents and change it later; you can refine it until you die. And you will die.

Do it so that your legacy isn’t heartache. Do it as soon as possible because where there’s a will, there’s a way forwards.

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