The Brookhaven leader., 1883-05-03
Setting Ones House In Order.

When the head of the house is laid
low there is trouble And the trouble
is greater if, as so often happens, Death
finds him before his house is "set in
order" and he A ready to depart. If he
had lived he would have collected
debts, Strengthened out tangles and got
things into proper shape for his success
sor. If he had lived, perhaps, only a
little longer, he would have made his
will, and aided so far in settling his es-
tate amicably and according to his plan.
A great many more men die intestate
than otherwise. A man has the feeling
that making will is a direct and i'm
mediate preparation for death, and that
putting off this duty delays the final,
fatal dart. But when this dart has sped,
and the widow finds herself alone and
responsible for settling the estate, she
way to turn. The legal forms that
must be gone through with are quite in
comprehensive and strange to her, and
she has little idea what ought to be
done, or of the manner in which the es-
tate ought to be settled up. In too
many cases the wife knows very little
about her husbands business affairs, his
obligations, his assets, his liabilities.
She takes for granted that ''he knows
his own business and is not only COM
petent to manage it in the best way for
the interests of both, but that he does
so, and that she is secure in any event.
Many wives have feeling that the
manifestation of lively interest in the
exact status of affairs would betray or
seem to betrav lack of confidence in
their husbands, and in accordance with
this feeling they hand over to their hus-
bands all their own property and eff
fects, trusting that by so doing they can
lose nothing. But unless accounts are
kept and the wife's property is protect
ed when the husband dies and creditors
and heirs come in, and there are fees to
be collected, there is no lack of oppor-
tunity for the widow to be robbed of all
which the greed of those in whose pow
er she is may be able to swallow.
Fortunate is she that can find trust
worthy and scapable man who will adj
wise as to the winding up of the estate
and see that it is thoroughly and care
fully done. Women ought to know
enough of legal forms and requirements
as to these matters to be able intelli-
gently to sign papers in their own in
tereSt, and to refuse to sign such as
would injure them; but while their hus-
bands live, there seems to be no need of
this, and when their husbands die they
are often too much bewildered and
overcome by the new aspect of things
to learn what is best to do and to have
done. There are many cases in which
widows have resOlutely set themselves
to work to master all the principles and
details involved in the settlement of es-
tates, and have administered upon them
with skill and sagacity. This course
can not be too highly commended. In
some of our States there are special
treatises upon settling estates, giving
the law and the forms to be gone
through; woman with such a book for
consultation would be able to have an
intelligent opinion as to the various
steps to be taken in her own case. AS
months are required for the work of
which we are speaking, there need be
no haste in taking the various steps.
Where there are minor children it is
sometimes impossible to conclude mat
ters until the children attain legal ma
jOrity. In such cases there is time for
the widow to become so conyersant with
her affairs that she may act intelligent
ly and with the advice of competent
counsel before taking any important
step.
When the wife dies, with or without
a will, there are few legal difficulties,
often none at all. for the husband to en-
counter in settling up her estate; but
the wife is hampered at every step, and
most of all by her own ignorance. The
best remedy for this, in the existing
state of things, is for the husband to
keep accounts so carefully and exactly
that all property or moneys belonging
to his wife's estate may be readily
identified as hers, and so not at the
mercy of his creditors, and to see to it
that all titles to property are unincum-
bered. A widow left with farm of
which her husband supposed himself
to be the owner, found after his death
that the man of whom the farm was
bought had no power to give title, this,
by the operation of a self-foreclOsing
mortgage, having passed into the mort
gagee before her husband bought it. A
mistake of this kind is generally much
more easily remedied by the buyer than
by his widow, for human nature is such
that the power to Oppress too often be-
gets the disposition to do so. That this
has always been so is amply evidenced
by the frequent references in the Scrip
lures to the care of God for the widow
and the fatherless, and the denuncia-
tions against those who oppress them.
To these the defenseless widow may be-
take herself and find in them abundant
support and consolation.
There is no truer way for the husband
to show his love and care of his wife
and children than by systematically so
arranging and ordering his affairs as to
leave them, in the event of his death,
protected from all who would take ad-
vantage of their ignorance or their
weakness. This he will do if he sets
his house in order and keeps it so.-M
y. Tribune.
Climbing Life's Ladder.