I got a surprise, on Thanksgiving morning, and not a nice one. A friend had died, suddenly.
His lady hadn’t heard from him for a while. She went over to his house to check on him, and found him dead.
He was, as far as anyone knew, in reasonably good shape. He’d bought a Thanksgiving turkey to cook.
He and his lady were planning a trip abroad in the summer.
I don’t know what killed him. He was a guy. Guys are notorious for not taking care of themselves. Apparently he had a heart condition, and didn’t do what he needed to. There will, in days to come be much discussion of what he should have eaten, and what he shouldn’t have done.
Right now they’re trying to find his will.
It is known that he had one. It is not known where he kept it. He’d moved into his present house, just a few months before. It’s possible it’s still in a box someplace. But he didn’t tell his lady, or anyone else, where he kept it.
He may have had a lawyer. No one seems to know who the lawyer is.
Until the will turns up, the deceased is in the morgue, because nobody knows who his executor is, including, I suspect, his executor. So, nothing can be done with his remains.
This is not the first time I’ve encountered fun and games in the world of inheritance.
A friend died without a will, and her assets were frozen, until it could be proved that her husband was her next of kin. It took a few weeks, meanwhile he couldn’t get into their joint checking account.
A friend quit her job and spent three years taking care of her grandmother. As a reward, the lady promised my friend her house when she died. Grandmother told the family her wishes, and expected her son and daughter to respect them. She shouldn’t have.
My friend’s mother and uncle fought over the estate, until the uncle died from a heart attack.
My friend went on welfare and moved into a rented room, until she could find another job. The house went to her older sister.
The first moral of all these stories, is that 1. You need a will. 2. Someone needs to know you have your will, and know where that will is. 3. Your executor needs to know that he or she is your executor. Otherwise there is going to be a mess, and that mess is going to take weeks to straighten out.
The second, there is nothing un manly about taking care of yourself. Lots of very macho guys eat right, live healthy, and see the doctor regularly. You will live longer if you do. There is absolutely nothing manly about being dead. Take a lesson from my friend and look after yourself.
