I Can Die Now

I just finished with all the paperwork for executing my dad’s Will. We’re putting the package in the mail today. Geez, but executing a Will for the first time is a real pain the the neck.

When I first took up the task, I was told, “Oh, it’s easy. You really don’t need an attorney.”

Now that I’ve been through the process, if I ever need to do it again, yeah, it’s easy and I won’t need an attorney. But going through the paperwork for the first time, it is NOT easy. It’s confusing, stressful, and maddening. I filled out the form at least three times, making mistakes and miscalculations throughout. Once I finally had everything figured out and correct, I had to copy everything over to a last, fresh sheet for presentation to the government. I highly suggest hiring an attorney for executing a Will if you’ve never done it before.

Having dealt with my dad’s Will prompted us to at last act to make our own Will. Drawing up a Will is not anywhere near as complicated as executing a Will. At least not for us; we don’t have a lot of complicated family and financial issues to figure out.

I signed my paperwork in front of a notary and a second witness, and it was all done. One of the documents I had to sign is a self-proving affidavit. Here’s the first of two paragraphs:

Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared Bullgrit, __________, and __________ known to me to be the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument and, all of these persons being by me first duly sworn, the testator, declared to me and to the witnesses in my presence. That said instrument is the testator’s last will, that the testator had willingly signed or directed another to sign the same for the testator, and executed it in the presence of said witnesses as the testator’s free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed; or, that the testator signified that the instrument was the testator’s instrument by acknowledging to them the testator’s signature previously affixed thereto.

What. The. Hell?

Anyway, I can die now, and my family will be taken care of all around. I know attorneys use “peace of mind” as a selling spiel for making a Will, but it actually does bring a little peace of mind, knowing that all legal decisions have been made and paperwork filled out properly.

Bullgrit