Sunday's News Wills and Reasons to have and not have them.

Sunday was Will day at the Library in Chula Vista.
Shirley Becker gave a great presentation on Wills.
Some of it was awesomely funny and very poignant.
I believe she listed 6 reasons for not having a Will and
the joy the government gets from that.
Like we are ready to have the government be in great joy of taking more of
our funds.
The flip side is it is really all true if you do not have a WILL.
She then went on to talk about the knowledge we can learn from looking
at Will's for our genealogical research.
She mentions to always find the original to verify for transcription error.
Ruth H mentioned that a naming error was found in a Will she thought was her
person.
But until she saw the original and seen the name spelt correctly she never was
sure.
Wills can be a great source of information on family links and relatives.

Spelling as we know is always a concern for genealogists because there was no
set form for spelling in the 1600 or 1700's and also early 1800's.
Shirley has a document with a name spelled four ways on one page.

She went over the various types of Wills there are: what they mean and what
you can and can not do with a Will.
Chuckling she says a Will is no good unless your DEAD. It can not assist or help
or care for your needs until you die. Ironically, Probate is the same way.

Wills are documents set by the states rules not the federal government.
There are codicil's to Wills. They can have many codicil's as long as written
by the person who wrote the WILL. She mentioned a Will that is four Volumes long.
Now that is one long WILL.
She mentioned that minors can make Wills but are not recognized by the state but
the state and family can take the information into consideration when a death
occurs by said minor.
She mentioned that the wife is not always the mother of the children in a Will.
I can comment that a husband is not always the father of the children in a Will
also. Children do take the stepfathers name and sometimes your not aware that
a change has taken place until you dig deeper. Some times many wives are
represented in a marriage of many children. If lucky you will have only one.
One of my Ancestors had 16 children and she lived to tell about it.
Shirley's talk was full of tidbits and hints. I understand that it will be
due noted on our Society webpage.
Also if your a senior and you are in need of a WILL, the Senior Center can help
you to get the situation resolved. Many asked where to go with out spending
thousands of dollars. We just know that they help seniors to get this resolved.
Norman Park Senior Center on F St. in Chula Vista, CA.
So if you are near a senior center in your area you may check with them for
information also. I also think you can call the Bar Association for the county
you are in and get some good advice also.
Shirley we enjoyed the talk and sorry more people did not attend.
We also enjoyed our guest for the event very much. Wondering if he ever got his
hug.