A great way to tie together all the requests in your last will and testament is a last letter. A last letter can share information you might not be able to clearly express in your will. Especially when you’re making requests for your children.
What Should You Write in Your Last Letter?
It won’t help if I said what ever you want. However, this is where you get to write about what ever is important to you.
Are you funny? Maybe your letter could convey your sense of humor. Do you love quoting lines from movies? Maybe your letter could include a list of your favorite films. How would you spend your perfect day? Maybe your letter could share your favorite memory.
Think on this opening sentence, “If I die tomorrow, I want you to know…”
What would you want your love ones to know?
For example I grew up on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. I send my child home for a few weeks every summer to stay with my parents so she can get a little insight into my childhood. I also want her to connect with my side of her family tree. If something were to happen to me I would still want this summer adventure to happen. Beyond requesting and providing for this in my will, I have written a letter to her and her guardians that detail not only why this was important to me but also includes the people and places that shaped my world. Like how my favorite spot in the province is on a hill over looking the cove in Mabou in Cape Breton. How my favorite thing to do in the winter time was to crank the heat in the car and drive across the McKay bridge with the windows down. Or how walking around the campgrounds at Scotia Pines connects me to my childhood in ways I have no words for. And how driving around my parents backyard on the four-wheeler makes where I come from feel like a magical land.
Write or not to Write
When I say write, I actually mean write. It is so easy to type sometime up and include it in your package. And you should do that. But I’d love for you to leave a copy of your handwriting too. It’s a great part of your legacy. And who doesn’t love receiving handwritten letters.
Blueskies,
Tami