Save us... oh wonderful Nanny State
It's like all those altruistic bank commercials I see nowadays... Canadians are obviously too stupid to make their own decisions...
Whew, that's a relief... one less thing to worry about. I was really dreading having to make my own decisions about what happens to my possessions after I die.
Sometimes... I just really miss Ray Bradbury.
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THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:
"conservative wankers shriek to high heaven about the 'nanny state'"Ah yes... multiple doses (these 3 being the most coherent) of the always elucidating "you're a big poopyhead" gambit.
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 8:19 AM, January 05, 2011
"what a complete idiot this makes him and his conservative pals look like."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 8:22 AM, January 05, 2011
"You truly, are, dumb as a fucking post"
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 12:24 AM, January 05, 2011
Thank you comment moderation.
4 comments:
This isn't so much a case of a judge meddling, as the person's will being *EIGHTEEN YEARS* out of date without ever being updated.
"On the day before she died in May, 2007, Ms. Lougheed told her lawyer she no longer owned any boats or the four properties. She said “she was fine” with her daughter inheriting only the cars, jewellery and her bank accounts."
Spoken words between a lawyer and you on your deathbed don't mean sweet **** all in probate court.
Personal responsibility of the now deceased wasn't exercised here. You have an obligation to keep your Will current and accurate, lest you leave a gaping maw like this open for a probate judge to interpret otherwise.
This means, if you marry, you need to update your will.
If you divorce, you need to update your will.
If you sell property and have to sign dozens of times and have lawyers look over the agreement... then, yep, it's a good time to review and possibly update your will, too.
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"anon says... have lawyers look over the agreement"
ah, read slower nonny... you even quoted it yourself.
"On the day before she died in May, 2007, Ms. Lougheed told her lawyer..."
you're happy with the state rewriting your will? no dangerous precedent there, huh?
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No, not happy that the way the laws work as is, that courts CAN reopen a Will, which pretty much blows out entirely the wishes of the deceased.
But these assinine laws and statutes have been around for long enough that people writing Wills should know about. As much as I detest lawyers myself, this wasn't a case of her lawyer being derelict in his duty -- it's up to the person writing the Will to keep their Will current to avoid situations just like this.
Let's be practical: You don't forget to wear your trousers in a blizzard, and then get shocked that your arse is FROSTBITTEN after a whole day outside.
If you arse-up a contract by promising possessions you no longer own to someone else, you open yourself up to writhing, slimy process of legal negociations, or court. It just isn't a simple case of shrugging it off with "oh, I don't own it anymore" to fix with a day remaining.
This isn't a precident set, sad to say. I've seen the Will of my great uncle get "renegociated"... in fact, because of my long departed uncle's stupidity, the estate is still open, 21 years later, bleeding most of the assets to the government coffers or lawyer's pockets, because he illegally wrote his wife out of his will (against his lawyer's advice). Only here, he was willfully stupid, where, not knowing the full situation of this lady's estate in the story, I can only assume she was ignorant.
I still posit, if she'd made changes to her will as she'd sold off the items that the weaselly daughter contested the will over, this wouldn't even be a news story that you or I would've trifled over.
The deceased plain and simple, left her estate open for a screwing over by the process... and it was entirely avoidable by likely one, or two visits to her lawyer over a span of 18 years.
You can not like how twisted it is, that you can write a will, and because you didn't follow reasonable norms like "don't promise stuff in writing you don't own", or, writing some bitch of a spouse out of their Will because they leave you when you're seemingly are on your deathbed, but it's a fool's errand to just complain, and not cover your arse.
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"anon says... blows out entirely the wishes of the deceased."
which is... and i trust you'll forgive me for pointing this out... the entire substance & purpose of writing a will, isn't it?
that pesky "the wishes of the deceased" thing, i mean.
hey... isn't the woman in question married to this, uh... interesting fellow?
"The Vancouver MP resigned from the Liberal caucus last fall after allegations of spending irregularities in his 2006 campaign.
"Mr. Wilson is also contemplating a defamation suit against family members following an ugly financial dispute."
yup... move along folks... nothing to see here.
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