The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-03-02
HAVE YOU MADE YOUR WILL:
BY a Lawyer OF Long Experience.

heauer, III you ua'e auy PioPSi'!i 80
there is a fair presumption in a country
Ike this that you have, it is undoubt-
edly question Of interest to you what
shall be done with it when you are gone.
You must 90 at some time, and may 60
very suddenly. At any rate, you will
probably not live nearly as long as you
expect to. If you die without a will,
the law will do the best it can in
making a just disposition OF your prop
erty among your relatives. Perhaps
YOU are satisfied to let the law do this
for you. If so, very well. But it is
altogether probable that you have some
preference as to tie disposition OF your
property. You may wish to bestow
some OF it in charity This the law
will not do for you You must see 10
it yourself or else let it 60 undone, and
in letting it 90 undone you may be
letting very clear duty 60 undone.
You may have some child that is feeble
in body or mind, or that, has had
special misfortune and needs spe-
cial consideration. 1t is for you
alone to consiler this child. The law
knows nothing about its special wants,
and cannot provide for them. You
NAV have no children, and may have
quite a choice which among your
nephews and nieces shall take your
property. If so, you must see TO It.
The law will not select for you. The
rich and the poor, the deserving and
the undeserving, will all take alike.
You NAV have an adopted daughter
whom you have accustomed to comforts
aud perhaps luxuries, who will be left
penniless unless you provide for her.
You must remember her, and not trust
to the law todo it. And you may, with
rare sense OF justice, recognize the
right Of your good wife to a more
ample allowance for her comfort than
the law would give her. II so, it is for
YOU to think of her and provide for her.
The law does not know what a remarka'
bly, good wife she is, and what a special
claim che has upon you, and gives her
only her fixed and too limited portion,
dividing the rest, you have no child
rem, among collateral relatives, some ot
whom perhaps you never saw. Con
slider well, then, whether it is not a
clear duty to those whom you love, or to
some good objects that you might aid
Tor you 10 make will.
And now, in the second place, il you
have made up your mind that you
ought to make a will, le; me say TO you
most emphaticaly, make it now. You
don't know how soon you will die
Your only sure way is to attend to the
matter at once. If you nut it off from
day to day you will probably never
make one. The fact that so many wills
are made by men on their death bed
shows how often persons who intended
to make will, and would be very
sorry to die without one. neglect it till
they find themselves just about to die.
Now, let me give you three reasons
against postponing the making Of your
will till you are fatally sick, either OF
which is reason enough OF itself: |.
You may never have any such sick
ness. You may drop down dead,
or be killed in railroad &C
cident, or be burned up, or be
blown up, or drowned. 2. If you
have a lesurely deathbed time Of it,
your mind will be enfeebled, things
that you could easily have settled by a
little thought when you were well, will
trouble and perplex you, and you will
very likely decide them unwisely and
wrongly. 3. Your will thus made may
be contested, and will really invite par.
ties adversely interested to contest it on
the ground OF your feeble condition, OF
which evidence can be easily obtained /;
and as result your will is either set
aside and all your plans defeated, or, If
it is sustained, half your property may
be spent in litigation and a lifelong
family quarrel engendered.
And now, in the third place, if you
are 80 Thoughtful and prudent as to
have made a will. another and most
important matter is to be considered
Do you keep your will revised and
adapted to new circumstances Has
yonr property doubled since the will
was made? Then probably you want
to give more to your wife, more to A,
more to B, more to the Lord. Consider
this. Have you given to one OF your
children q piece OF real estate as his fair
share OF your property, and have you
since sold that real estate 30 that that
child will get nothing unless your will
is changed? Look well to this. The
writer, who has had long experience as
a lawyer, can recall many cases where
most unfortunate results have followed
from the neglect to keep a will in order
Everybody has heard OF the Washburn
will case. After the will was made by
which Mr.. W. had made ample provi-
sion for cherished wife in certain val.
liable stock, the stock was 30 changed
in form as not to answer the descrip.
ton Of the will, and a long and still
pending controversy has grown out OF it,
Ard now, in the fourth place, let me
say a word to you about what provision
you should make for your wife. The
laws OF the different States vary some
what but as general rule, give q
widow a life use of one third Of the
land owned by the husband, and an
absolute right to one-third Of the per
sonal property left after the payment OF
debts. This rule, under the impression
that it is q just one, has very frequently
been adopted BY husbands in their be-
quests to their wives. Il give TO my
faithful and beloved wife her thirds
finds its way, or did 3 few years ago
into half the wills. Now this is not
enough. Unless there are good reasons
TO the contrary, the wife should
have substantially all the prop
erty 90 long as she lives.
Th.,. In generally no reasoo IN the