Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-12
cURIosITIEs OF WILL-MAKISG.
Rules Which Owners Of Properly Should
Understand In Reoueathinp II

Rules Which Owners of Properly Should
Understand in Bequeathing It
The journals of year past have men
toned an extraordinary number of queer or
contested wills. Are people becoming
more disposed to draw their own Wills with.
out lawyers There is no reason why any.
one should not draw will who has fair
businesshke ability to write out the gifts.
Common sense suggests that the paper
ought to be headed as a will, and it is not
difficult to learn by inquiry how many viii.
nesses are required in the particular State ::
this, by the way, is the State where The
testator resides lat his DEATH; a will drawn
for man on journey should follow
the law of the State where he has his
home. Neither bad grammar nor mis-.
spelling in the body of the will vitiates
it; if the Judges can understand what the
paper means they will order that done.
Wills having nearly every important word
misspelled and almost destitute of punctu.
alton have been accepted. Maine papers
say that Court has lately taken proof of
will made in pantomime by man who
was deaf and dumb, and could not write
nor use the manual alphabet. But mistakes
which obscure the meaning make trouble.
a story last summer was that Mr.. Matthew
Nassar, when drawing his own will, meart
to leave $1,000 to seven churches. e.,
$1,000 apiece-but in copying his rough
draft he inadvertently inserted the word
leach, giving the churches 1000 each
Or S49,0 900 in all. The general rule as to
mistakes IS that if the will is lucid and
intelligible, and can be carried into effect as
it reads, this must be done the language
cannot be altered because witnesses say
that the testator meant something differ.
ent from what he wrote. But if what is
written cannot be performed, the Courts
will then take proof of what the man
meant to write.
Curious conditions are sometimes i'm
posed. One testator declared in his will
that if any legatee should attempt to break
it, he should be debarred from all share.
Another cut off any heir who should wear
mustaches. Another said that each legatee
must take the pledge before receiving his
share, and should forfeit a half years in.
come for every breach of il. Another left
to his family physician e.. 600 if testator
should live two years, or f3, 900 if he
should live five; but, unluckily for the
doctor, the patient lived only week.
Whether conditions of this kind are opera.
tive depends on the circumstances; if they
are lucid and practicable the Courts will
enforce them, but many are so expressed
that they amount to nothing. Ii you wish
that your legatee should not receive the
property unless he complies with condi.
tion, say 30 plainly in the will, and the
condition, if not contrary to law, will
probably be enforced. But to make
him give back the legacy because
OF his breaking the condition after
it has been paid may not be SO easy. And
do not mention the bequests at all in the
will, but write them in letter separately,
unless you mean that, if they are not
obeyed, the legacy shall be forfeited. Be.
quests which are noJ peremptory conditions
often make trouble. When Heller, the
magician, died he bequeathed his appa-
ratus to be destroyed. In some instances a
testator has directed that favorite horse
or other pet should be killed, "lest it fall
into unkind hands" 1t is doubtful wheth-
er Court would compel an executor to
destroy property because the will so de-
sired. Wills are allowed for giving ones
property that useful animals or articles
should be destroyed is not for public bene-
fit. Directions given in will as to mode
of burial, or for cremation, are also sub.
jects of the sanitary law of the place.
1t is only when one designs to give his
property outright in simple ways that he
should draw his own will: for complicated
trusts, endowing new institutions, or tying
up property fer future time, a lawyers
aid may be very useful. Even lawyers
sometimes make mistakes. A New York
lawyer named Rose drew his own will,
leaving about 81. 600, 900 to be held for
five years to see whether other givers
would add $500, 900; if they would, the
whole should go to endow "Rose Bene-
fcent Association :" if they would not,
then his money was to 90 to other chari.
ties. Now the law does not allow prop.
erty to be held in suspense for definite
term of years therefore his gift was pro.
nounced void. Some most absurd blum.
ders have been made by lawyers in draw
ing wills for themselves. 1t is not oblig-
atory to appoint an executor, but doing SO
is wise, and If testator has enough conf.
denee in the person named, to direct that
he shall not be required to give security" F"
this may prove great convenience.
As respects signing and witnessing, wills
often fail for some informality in these, es-
pecially in New York. where the form is
stricter than in most States. A story Of
last summer was that a will was presented,
written partly in black pencil, patty in
blue Ia will is not void because in pencil,
though ink is far better. about half was
written on one page, and the witnesses
signed at the foot /; the other half was
written on the other page, and then came
the testator's signature. This instrument
was discarded because the witnesses did
not sign at the end OF the will. Common
sense ought to tell any one that any i'm.
portant paper ought to be completed before
the signatures are affixed.
The New York rule as to the signing and
witnessing is that there must he two wit.
nesses; the testator must sign in their
presence, inform them that the paper is his
will (he need not tell them what is in it),
and ask them to witness it; and they must
sign their names and residences at the end
of the will. They usually sign below a
brief memorandum certifying that these
things were done, but this memoran.
dun is not strictly essential. Keep the
will, when completed, in safe place. In
Massachusetts,, lately, a will was contested
because rats had eaten the signature. Lord
st. Leonard's will was lost, and was estab-
lished only by the fortunate fact that his
daughter was able to repeat the substance
" from, ynapnoru