This blog is not for you, unless you care about what happens to your stuff after you pass away. If you do, then you should pay attention – this is for you. Dave Ramsey, the financial guru, says “Do you hate the people in your life? Die without a will! They will fight for years over your stuff.” A recent PBS broadcast suggested that fifty-five percent of us die w/out having a valid Last Will and Testament. This is a poor comment on our society.

Your Last Will & Testament does not need to be complicated. I have helped many clients create “mom and pop” Wills. “If I die, she gets everything, if she dies I get everything.”

Now don’t get me wrong. I have also created creative wills that specifically address issues or problems, like the dad who was concerned about his adult son. When we got to the part of our interview where he was telling me who was to get what, he said “I have a problem with my son.” “What’s the problem with your son” I asked. “He’s an idiot,” the dad replied. After affirming to Dad that there were some things that not even an attorney can cure, I came up with a unique idea (And to be fair to the son – it wasn’t that he was a bad person, he was simply really bad with money).

So here was the solution that I came up with: Dad, in his Will, first left his son the sum of eighty thousand dollars. If you live in Central Pennsylvania and don’t have a car payment or a mortgage (and dad had purchased both a car and a house, with cash, for his son), you can live pretty well on eighty thousand dollars a year. Son then had twelve months from the date of dad’s passing to complete “Financial Peace University” to my satisfaction. I have led the FPU classes for seventeen years, so I knew the class would challenge the son. If he successfully passed this test, then he would be the beneficiary of a testamentary trust and would be the heir of his dad’s estate (which was worth several million dollars). If the son failed to complete the FPU class, then son would receive a check for one hundred thousand dollars, and the remainder of dad’s estate would go to charity. It was a great solution.

So your Will can be whatever you want it to be. A simple mom and pop will, or maybe we can make it like the man who left his entire estate to be divided evenly between the people who showed up at his funeral –he also had several million dollars! Or you could leave it to the local high school wrestling club, or to your house of worship, or to the Blue Moon Cruisers! You could leave something to your niece who always made you laugh at the family Christmas parties…but none of that will happen if you do not have a valid Last Will & Testament. If you die without a will, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will determine who gets your stuff. . .and they don’t know about the Christmas parties where your niece made you laugh, or that your son is an idiot!

Don’t leave it to chance, or to the Commonwealth’s intestacy rules. Come see us at Salzmann Hughes. We have offices in Carlisle, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, Camp Hill and Hanover. You can contact me in our Carlisle office at 717-249-6333. We look forward to helping you leave a legacy.