Estates

I'm used to looking at old Wills. I particularly like the ones where all the person's possessions are listed on one page. They lived before shopping centers. Property lines were written as extending to so-and-so's fence line. No GPS. 

I don't know this for a fact but I'm guessing the reason people wrote their Wills on one page was because all their worldly possession could fit on one page. 

This is not exactly relevant to filing historical documents but it's interesting to note the difference between past and present. I only mention this because a cousin is presently dealing with her mother's estate where she listed all her worldly possessions as a codicil to her Will. In other words, a binding legal document. 

Oh-My-GOD.

And, of course, the lawyers won't let it go. And she's been up til 1 o'clock multiple mornings creating a spreadsheet for them. 

There's a big difference between a compact listing of 1 pitchfork, 1 basket, 1 horse, 1 cow and calf, 1 plough, potatoes in the field, 1 iron kettle, 1 bed and bed clothing, 2 slaves ... and 6,000 items from your favourite mall and London Drugs. 

As far as I could tell from listening to this on the phone there are 3 items of enduring value; two paintings and a wedding ring. So get them appraised and call it a day. 

I'm not a legal scholar so I work from common sense if I can. 

I wrote a Will a long time ago. I haven't changed it since. It covers where my money goes. Full stop. 

And then there's my household full of 21st century possessions, just the regular stuff everyone has; linens, clothes, kitchen utensils, ubiquitous plastic. This is not part of my Will. Because some of it changes. I break things. I send things to recycling. I don't need the trouble of writing a new Will every time I go shopping. 

I don't have a single thing that would increase in market value over time; jewellery, rare manuscripts, antiques, coin or stamp collections. What I have for my Executor is a list. Even a list is overkill. "Household of" would probably suffice. It's quite long. I don't update it that often although I could. The point is the value for Capital Gains is ZERO. 

I have another document that says where I want particular items sent to. Not much but a few things of possible value to others. Like genealogy files on external hard-drives and a 70-year old sewing machine that still runs and still repairs my clothes and a few paper files (too many actually). 

What I'm saying is if you don't need to complicate your life with a codicil listing of everything in your bathroom cabinet, don't.