Two Will Cases | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 26, 1872

Two Will Cases.

The recent statement of two important will cases suggest some cautions to persons who have made or may yet make their wills. In these two cases, although both testators were intelligent, business men, fully alive to the importance of guarding against mistakes, yet their wills, drawn up by able lawyers and expressing their intentions beyond a doubt, have been so far set aside that a disposition of their property has been made that they never intended, and in neither case has the law been allowed to take its course in the settlement according to the terms of the will.

The caution these facts suggest, is this: that men if they make a will, should be so careful as to prevent compromises by which their intentions may be defeated. All men, in making their wills, rely upon the law to give efficacy to their declared wishes after their death. The law is made for this purpose. The government is pledged to respect a dead man's rights. But in many cases the law is evaded by the consent of heirs, and the wishes of the testator defeated.

In all cases of donations to charities, it is better to do as Mr. Peabody did, and Mr. Stewart is doing, give while you live. See it done. There is satisfaction in it. You are sure of it, too. If you put the money into your will, it may or may not find its way to the charity you wish to endow. But if you do make a will, be sure it is well made. Remember the old maxim, “Whoever is his own lawyer, has a fool for his client.” Get your will carefully and legally expressed, and perhaps your money will go where you want it to go.—N. Y. Observer.