I’m trying to think of a good reason to not have a Will….

The story of Roman Blum has puzzled me all day. He was very wealthy – to the tune of $40M. He had many friends and was a fixture of the New York social scene. He was an incredibly smart business man, and employed a group of professional advisors including accountants and lawyers. He was obviously touched by many social causes having been a holocaust survivor himself. So how could a man in this position, reach the age of 97 and still be procrastinating over the act of writing his Will? How could a man with such a sizeable estate miss the boat entirely, and allow the whole lot to pass to the State treasury?

The New York Times article has some illuminating quotes from his friends and professional advisors, which has relevance to the 60 percent of adults who don’t currently have a Will;

He was a very smart man but he died like an idiot”
Paul Skurka, a fellow Holocaust survivor who befriended Mr. Blum in the 1970s

This comment demonstrates that writing a Will is often not about YOU, it’s about everybody that is left behind to pick up the pieces. It really is idiotic.

I spoke to Roman many times before he passed away, and he knew what to do, how to name beneficiaries,Two weeks before he died, I had finally gotten him to sit down. He saw the end was coming. He was becoming mentally feeble. We agreed. I had to go away, and so he told me, ‘O.K., when you come back I will do it.’ But by then it was too late. We came this close…”
Mason D. Corn, his accountant and friend for 30 years.

The man was 97 years old. He should have written a Will in his twenties and updated it throughout his life. Planning to prepare a Will just before you die is a desperately bad idea.

None of Mr. Blum’s friends know why he never wrote a will. Those close to him say it may have been superstition or, after coming so close to dying during the war, a refusal to contemplate his own mortality.”

At LegalWills, we can guarantee that you are no more likely to die if you have written your Will. We can also guarantee that you will die one day.

He may also have been unwilling to share the full details of his estate with a lawyer, the desire for secrecy a holdover from his experiences during the war.”

We have heard this before and explains why services like those offered by us at LegalWills.ca, LegalWills.co.uk and USLegalWills.com are increasingly popular. They are private and convenient, and your personal affairs need not be shared with anybody.

There is a lot of conjecture as to why Mr Bloom never created a Will, but there is real tragedy here. I am quite certain that if he had taken the few minutes to write a Will, he would almost certainly not left his entire fortune to the State of New York. That is not what he wanted.