KS&L 150: Having a Will

What does having a will have to do with karma? It all goes back to planning and caring about those you leave behind. Life on the physical plane is automatically challenging and when you do not have a will, you make life utterly a nightmare for those who must take care of your affairs after you leave. Often times it seems to those left behind a cruel punishment.

Having heard the argument that thinking about a will reminds you of your own mortality, that it makes you sad, or that it is just too morbid to think about are all poor excuses. One excuse is that since you are in great health, why worry about death? Does worrying about death put you in resonance with death? Is making a will worrying about death? No, the creation of a will is a document that helps the living. It also does not matter what your age is, once you own even a car, a computer as a minimum, you have assets.

The creation of a will or Living Trust is a responsible action. A will or Living Trust is an administrative document that enables your family to manage your assets be they large or small should something happen to you. And things happen to people of all ages, no matter what great health they may be in, no matter how long they think they will live.
What happens without a will, what happens if you die intestate? The state comes in and has to manage your assets and then determine where things are to be allocated. It is so hard for family members left behind. They cannot help but wonder what the dead person was thinking – or not thinking about. It makes grief that much harder because anger and frustration are now added.

How do you go about beginning a will even if you don’t think you have many assets? It does not matter how much you think you have, a will is always tremendously helpful. Most office supply stores carry fill-in-the-blank templates for a standard will. You can do it in minutes on your computer, get someone to witness you sign it, date it and then make copies for the administrators of the will and put this precious document in a safe place.

If you have property, it will be exceedingly important to have a living trust because after death, it is a kinder way for a spouse or children/relatives to manage the assets. For this you will need an attorney. This is a much more in-depth document and requires more work, but by the time you own a home, one or two cars and the things that fill your life, it becomes readily apparent that someone is going to have to decide what to do with all of these things.

If you have children, a will and delineation of who takes over guardianship of your children should the unthinkable happen, is critical.

Some excuses are that the writer of the will does not know how to divide the assets. This can be a challenging problem, but none-the-less, one that is better faced now than not at all. Any decision is better than no decision. If you do not want to leave it to a particular person to be the executor, you can have an attorney or a bank act as the executor but they will still ask you how you want your assets divided.

Often doing this can be very cleansing. Making a will is an element of loving your family because you cared enough to consider the aftermath of your passing. No one can know your wishes completely. You have to help them.

In your busy life, in your busy, busy days, a will is a critical element in balancing the karma of life – of taking ownership of what you have done and how this will echo out to those around you. It is a thoughtful process and a sobering one. You are reminded that there are no guarantees for a life of a hundred years.

It also reminds you that the only “thing” you take with you at death is the knowledge of the quantities of love you gave others and that which you received. Things can be lovingly distributed even before you leave. You just get to keep some “things” for a little while. Everything is transitory. Perhaps making a will helps you to put life in perspective. For many, making a will is the final loving act.