A Written Will

My main motivation for writing this is the fact that  I have witnessed my mother & father have disagreements with their respective siblings on matters to do with the Inheritance of their parents. I would dread a time when I & my siblings disagree over our parents properties/inheritance. I tell you it's all Vanity!

A will or a Testament is simply defined as a legal document that expresses a person's wishes as to how their property is to be distributed after their death. Failure to prepare a will typically leaves decisions about your estate in the hands of judges or state officials and may also cause family strife! Today we witness this as one major reason of division in families & sometimes it can lead to Murder!

Unfortunately this concept has not been fully embraced in Africa.

Writing a will or a Testament doesn't mean I am dying the next minute it is simply my way of showing an act of Love to my loved ones, by making their life easier when I am gone.....No one on their grave up in Heaven wants to look down and see their loved ones fighting over material things but rather to celebrate and cherish the wonderful moments they spent together. A priest during Holy Mass in his homily said when families quarrel or have disagreements over inheritance/property most likely the deceased has not rested well, indeed so sad 😢😢  

I once attended a Conference where a Judge stated that majority of the inheritance cases brought before the courts of law can be avoided if the African Society embraced the art of writing wills. In addition he challenged the African men to put their houses in order while here on earth. By introducing their wives and children to their extended families & formalizing their unions, this truly avoids surprise elements when one is gone........

Death is something we all experience, because it is God who gives & It is the same God who takes. They say what makes us equal is death some go before others. I am reminded of the words during Ash Wednesday ' From dust you came & to dust you shall return.

Grief is something we all have to experience at one point in life, my favorite African gal Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie lost her dad during the times of Covid - 19 lockdown, she couldn't travel to be with her loved ones during the trying times  due restrictions but it's this that led her to write her book 'Notes on Grief' it was just her way of mourning. 

I once watched a Scene that struck me of an elderly Man who dies, and his family has gathered in the living room eagerly awaiting for the will to be read by the family lawyer. Everyone is anxious to just find out what is their share in the family inheritance / property. This is the moment everybody awaits when their loved is gone. And the lawyer simply says straight in their eager eyes, THERE IS NO WILL 🤯 and at first the widow thinks it's a joke or a way for the lawyer to avoid conflict. But it is no joke, there is no will. Shock and disbelief fills the entire room with many un - answered questions in everyone's mind.

Make death easy for your loved ones & write a will.