The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-03-02
HAVE YOU MADE YOUR WILL,
BY Lawyer of Long Experience.

llkD tulN lnuI YOU uhNtflt y suuuVuu1Cuiy
q question Of interest 70 you whit shall
bedone with It Wien you are gone. You
must go at some time, and may 60 very
suddenly. At any rate, you will probably
not live nearly as long as you expect 10.
II you die without will, the law will do
the best II can in making Just diSposl.
ton Of your property among your rela.
ttves. Perhaps you arc satisfied 10 let the
law do this FOR you. II 30, very well.
But It Is altogether probable that you
have some preferences as TO hetlispositlon
OF your property. You may wish to be.
stow some Of II In charity. This the law
will not do oryQu. Ygu. must sec 10 It
for yourself, or else lot II 60 1ndOne; and
in letting II goundone, you may be letting
very clear dptygo yndone, you may
have some child that ID feeble IN
body or mind, ~ or that has
had special misfortune and needs
special, consideration. It Is for yOn alone
10 consider this child. The law knows
nothing about It's wants, and cannot pro.
vide ion them, You may have no Child.
rem, and may have quite choice which
among your nephews and neices may take
your property. If 50, yOu must sec 10 1t.
The law will not select Tor your The
rich and poor, the deserving and unde.
serving, will all take, alike, You may
have an adopted daughter, whom you
have accustomed 10 comforts and perhaps
luxuries, who will DO left penniless unless
you provide Tor her. You must remenl.
Der her and not trust TO the law 10 .doit.
And you may, with rare sense Of Justice
recognize The right ofsyour good wife to q
more ample allowance for her comfort
than the law would give her. Ifso, II
Is for you TO think Of her and provide fol
her The law does not know what 0
remarkably good wife, she Is, and what .
special claim she has upon you, and gives
her only her fixed and too limited portion
tidiViding the rest, II you hare no children
among collateral relatives, some Of whom
perhaps you never saw. Consider well
| then, whether It Is not clear duty e
4 those whom yoi love, or 10 some good
lobjects that you might aid, for you e
Pmake a viii. ...' '.''
And now, in the second place, Il yot
| have made up your mind that you oughi
to make q will, let me say to you mos
emphatically, make 1t now. You dom
know how soon you may die. You
lonly sure way Is to attend 10 the matte
at once. Il you put 1t off from day L
day you will probably never make one
The fact that many wills arc made by
men on their death.b bed shows how otter
persons who intended TO make will
and would be very sorry to die without
one, neglect 1t till they find themselvei
Just about TO die. Now, let me give yov
three reasons against postponlng thu
making Of your will till you are fatally
sick, either Of which Is reason enough Q
itself: /. You may never have such sick
ness. You may drop down dead, or b.
killed in railroad accident, or be burnet
up, or blown up, or drowned. 2. If you
have u leisuTelY death. bed time of 1t, yOtl
mind will be enfeebled, things that yor
could easily have settled by little
thought when you were well, will trouble
and perpleX you, and you will very likely
decide them unRisely and wrongly. 8
Your will thus made may be contested
and will really invite parties adversely
interested to contest 1t, on the ground o
your feeble condition, Of which evidence
can be easily obtained and as a result
your will is either set aside and all YOU
plans defeated, or, il 1t is sustained, hal
your property may be spent In litigation
and lifelong fAmily.quarrel engendered
And now, in the third place, Il you art
so thoughtful and prudent as to have made
q will, another most important matter Is
to be considered. Do you kesp your VIII
revised and adapted to new circumstan,
cesS Has your property doubled since
the will was nader Then probably yor
want to give more to your wife3more Il
A, more to B, more 10 the Lord. Con
slider this. Have you given to ono O
your children. piece Of real estate as his
fair share OF your property, and haVeyou
since sold that real estate so that that
child will get nothing unless yourjwill Id
changed STLook well to this. The
writer, who has had long experience as q
lawyer, can recall many cases where mos
unfortunate resultshGVe followed IRON The
neglect to keep q will in order. ollsEery.
body has heard Of the Wasburn will case
Alter the will was made by which Mr.
w. had made ample provision Tor a
cherished wife in certain valuable stock
the stock was so changed in form as moi
10 answer the description OF the will, and
long and still pending controversy has
grown out otit JlL y.H'ilGrEt i'.F yoG,
And now, In the fourth place, let me say
q word!to. you about what provision you
should make toryour wife. q Thel GwsI Of
the different States vary somewhat, butas
general rulej gfvela widow q life use of
One.third Of the'land owned by th6shus.
band and m absolute right to one.third
Of the pRrsnnal property lat 0ftoE tho pay.
ment Ofdebts This rule, under the i'm.
preston that II Is q Just one, has Yery freG
quantly been adopted by husbands in their
requests to their wives. II give 10 INV
faithful and beloved wife her thirds" finds
its way; ordid q few years ago, into half
the wills. Now this is not enough. I'm.
less there.are good reasons to the contrary,
the Rile should have substantially all the
property so longias she lives. There Il
generally no reason, if the property Is
sufficient, why the family should not be
kept up by the wile after the husbands
death just as 1t was before; and the hus.
band should leave her, if he can, the same
means to keep house and be hospItable
and charitable that he enjoyed and that
she was accustomed to share. Ilyou give
your property, and the whole Of It, a6so.
lutelyto your wife, it will In many cases be
the best thing you can do Your children
arc hers, and she will be just as much IN.
terested in providing for them us you can
be, and il she should survive you for ten
or twenty years, she will be far better
able to judge what is then best than you
can be now. Circumstances may have
greatly changed, and, il you have found
her wise and trustworthy through all
your married life, you may trust her to
act wisely with reference 70 such changes