Monday, January 05, 2009
There's A Way
Well, folks, I'm testate. This past weekend Shelly and I finalized and signed our wills. Now that's in place (along with the life insurance we bought this fall), I can die in peace.
It was an interesting experience, contemplating my death. And not only my death, but the death of nearly everyone I love - one of the hardest parts was figuring out what to do if Shelly, Ellie, Annie, and I are all dead (we might all die in the same car crash, for example). Who gets the kids? Who gets the kids if the first choice isn't available? How old do the girls have to be before we'll let them control their own inheritance? Should we restrict our bequest to BYU from using our money for athletic scholarships (and is that wise in light of what the University of Utah did to Alabama on Friday?)? Whom should we name as executor and stick with the responsibility of paying our debts and selling and distributing our belongings? Should I make some crazy requirement like you have to spend a night in a haunted house in order to get my piano?
We used a software program called Quicken WillMaker Plus, which was great for a basic will (although I was disappointed in its lack of Virginia-specific knowledge - for example, it spat out a sentence saying that I live in the "State of Virginia" when everyone knows Virginia is not a State). But I also went the extra mile of taking a Continuing Legal Education Course which provided some helpful insights and language that I wanted to include. So I exported the WillMaker will to a Word document, and it yelled at me several times: "DO NOT CHANGE A WORD OF THIS WILL! YOU COULD TOTALLY INVALIDATE IT!" I proceeded to change a lot of stuff. But I figure that's okay - I'm a trained lawyer. Let's just hope a 3-hour CLE course is enough training to avoid the invalidation of my will.
When all was said and done and written and adapted into a separate will for Shelly too, we took the unsigned copies to a neighbor's birthday party and asked the crowd who would like to be our witnesses. Will-signings are supposed to be a solemn occasion, but we moved the cake and ice cream out of the way on the dining room table to sign. But hey, according to my extensive legal training, that's valid. Then we went home and put the legal formalities in our fire-safe box. Now we can start living dangerously, I guess.
It was an interesting experience, contemplating my death. And not only my death, but the death of nearly everyone I love - one of the hardest parts was figuring out what to do if Shelly, Ellie, Annie, and I are all dead (we might all die in the same car crash, for example). Who gets the kids? Who gets the kids if the first choice isn't available? How old do the girls have to be before we'll let them control their own inheritance? Should we restrict our bequest to BYU from using our money for athletic scholarships (and is that wise in light of what the University of Utah did to Alabama on Friday?)? Whom should we name as executor and stick with the responsibility of paying our debts and selling and distributing our belongings? Should I make some crazy requirement like you have to spend a night in a haunted house in order to get my piano?
We used a software program called Quicken WillMaker Plus, which was great for a basic will (although I was disappointed in its lack of Virginia-specific knowledge - for example, it spat out a sentence saying that I live in the "State of Virginia" when everyone knows Virginia is not a State). But I also went the extra mile of taking a Continuing Legal Education Course which provided some helpful insights and language that I wanted to include. So I exported the WillMaker will to a Word document, and it yelled at me several times: "DO NOT CHANGE A WORD OF THIS WILL! YOU COULD TOTALLY INVALIDATE IT!" I proceeded to change a lot of stuff. But I figure that's okay - I'm a trained lawyer. Let's just hope a 3-hour CLE course is enough training to avoid the invalidation of my will.
When all was said and done and written and adapted into a separate will for Shelly too, we took the unsigned copies to a neighbor's birthday party and asked the crowd who would like to be our witnesses. Will-signings are supposed to be a solemn occasion, but we moved the cake and ice cream out of the way on the dining room table to sign. But hey, according to my extensive legal training, that's valid. Then we went home and put the legal formalities in our fire-safe box. Now we can start living dangerously, I guess.
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