where there’s a will ….

…. there’s a relative.

Anniemay has spent the best part of the day writing her will, using an on-line will service.  You can tell she’s finding it hard work because she’s got through a bottle and a half of coke and she’s still not finished.

We’ve had to think about such things a lot in the past few years and have come to the conclusion that the best time to write a will is when you don’t actually have to.  This is on the basis that the worst time to write a will is when one or other of you is on your death bed.

It gets more complex as you get older because you’re faced with the possibility that you may actually outlive your beneficiaries.  What then?  Charities probably - but which ones?  With so much grief in the world it becomes harder to choose.

And it’s not just about money - it’s also about ‘last wishes’.  The party, the Viking funeral or the sending of ashes up into space … all the things that say we want our exit from this good old world to be a bit different.  Because if we don’t write it down, it may not happen.  

As I say, we’ve had to give this a lot of thought; not just because of the vagaries of my cancer, but also because we’ve lost two people recently who failed to leave wills and have passed on to those left behind, not just grief but also financial chaos and uncertainty.  Which is why it’s best done when you think you don’t have to.  Like now.