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It has been a decade since we did this and we are now in the process of updating our Wills etc.
This time though, we are doing the update ourselves because we have the previous documents and can either just lift the boilerplate and adjust the bequests or have the ability to correct actual flaws in the original Wills that were not captured by the legal firm who prepared them in 2011.
I always enjoys going back and seeing who did or did not get cut in for a share and now that there are marriages and great nephews etc. to consider, to factor this in as well.
A decade on, some of beneficiaries are at the stage in life where a bequest would be meaningless at their age and circumstance, so some like my siblings are only tagged for a nominal remembrance while the youngest are still kind of unknown entities to us because they are under 6 years of age and I could end up thinking they are unworthy to share in the leftovers.
So. I am not just leaving this to family I don't know or care about.
The best things I have come up with, other than our cats being the first named in the bequests, is to have the estate pay for a trip to our favourite home away from home in the US for the entire immediate family to spend 4 days there and to leave a portion of ashes.
The other thing is to sponsor a Requiem Mass or concert , as a Presbyterian this may seem strange, but I am making it a benefit to raise funds for a local charity. I am a sucker for Mozart's Requiem, Faure's Requiem or Berlioz's Requiem.
And then there are a number of other boiler plate favourite causes, such as the Torre Argentina cat sanctuary in Rome of schools of veterinary medicine for research into feline diseases.
But I need some other good suggestions. (I also have LGBTQ causes named).
Give me ideas and just as a kick in the pants, have you made out or updated your will yet?
This time though, we are doing the update ourselves because we have the previous documents and can either just lift the boilerplate and adjust the bequests or have the ability to correct actual flaws in the original Wills that were not captured by the legal firm who prepared them in 2011.
I always enjoys going back and seeing who did or did not get cut in for a share and now that there are marriages and great nephews etc. to consider, to factor this in as well.
A decade on, some of beneficiaries are at the stage in life where a bequest would be meaningless at their age and circumstance, so some like my siblings are only tagged for a nominal remembrance while the youngest are still kind of unknown entities to us because they are under 6 years of age and I could end up thinking they are unworthy to share in the leftovers.
So. I am not just leaving this to family I don't know or care about.
The best things I have come up with, other than our cats being the first named in the bequests, is to have the estate pay for a trip to our favourite home away from home in the US for the entire immediate family to spend 4 days there and to leave a portion of ashes.
The other thing is to sponsor a Requiem Mass or concert , as a Presbyterian this may seem strange, but I am making it a benefit to raise funds for a local charity. I am a sucker for Mozart's Requiem, Faure's Requiem or Berlioz's Requiem.
And then there are a number of other boiler plate favourite causes, such as the Torre Argentina cat sanctuary in Rome of schools of veterinary medicine for research into feline diseases.
But I need some other good suggestions. (I also have LGBTQ causes named).
Give me ideas and just as a kick in the pants, have you made out or updated your will yet?

