All lawyers can be superheroes if they apply their skill to adapt to the situation. One such way to help your network in the times of #coronavirus is to encourage them to #makeawill. This will also help young litigators having financial woes to gain more clients.
Why are you here?
You want to do something better, be the change, learn something more, create a difference. You see your friends who are doctors, police inspectors and social workout there on the front lines while you are busy posting work out and cooking videos and have successfully completed the #dalgonachallenge. Don’t you want to help too? What are the ways you think that you can use your skills as a law student to help?
How can you help?
Lets dial back to the first year of law school– do you remember learning about family law and making a will? Maybe you had a 10 marker question on drafting a will as a part of your paper. Well it’s time to revise the chapter since this is your weapon of choice to save the world- go out there and make others aware of safeguarding their family by making a simple will.
How do you start?
Attached is a draft template for making a will. If you have a better one, use that. Armed with that template, reach out to your loved ones- start with your family. Any person who owns assets should make a will. Your father may be the sole bread earning member in the family, your mother may be a housewife but own jewelry and have a right in her father’s property. Your uncle might have young kids, a spouse and parents– how will he want to divide his assets?
Why would they want to make a will- we live like the Hum Saath Saath Hain family?
Remember the brothers of India’s richest family struggle? Did you know that the daughter of a very wealthy family owning textile mills changed her sex to gain inheritance rights in her father’s property when her father declared that only his son would receive his inheritance? Have we forgotten that the famous family which owns the clothing goodstore (the advertisement which says – the complete man one) is fighting every day in court over family wealth? If such big families have issues in estate planning although having access to wills, where does that leave you?
But I am the average middle class person, my family does not own so many assets, why should I force them to make a will?
Who said small families don’t fight over properties? Remember that old Ambuja Cement ad- Bhaiya ye deewar tut-ti kyu nahi hai? Why don’t you google death over property and see the number of cases. Ok- maybe I am painting an extremely gruesome picture but you get the idea right? A will is just a tool to ensure that the loved ones have clarity on how to honour your wishes. Issues are not going to resolve themselves– you cannot always divide that favourite piece of jewelry in half or sell the childhood home where you have extremely fond memories and split the proceeds in the name of practicality. You want to ensure that the glue that holds your family together continues to bind even after your loved one’s death and at the same time, equitable distribution of wealth is carried out- the married bua does not raise issues on the ownership of the house where you and your family is staying, the grandmother and spouse do not fight over the life insurance money and so on. Believe me, I have seen a lot of families fight over such terms while they should be busy mourning the death of their loved ones.
But talking about making a will is such a touchy topic! It will sound as if I am reminding Dadaji and Dad of their impending deaths
I agree, we Indians find great pleasure in avoiding sensitive topics which should be addresses- maybe about that uncle who unpleasantly touched you, or the sex education talk that you should have received in your childhood or talking about how your latest Tinder experience (not all of us have cool family discussions like Hardik Pandya’s family does!) has been. Maybe we can add the topic of will making to that list or we could use this family time to talk about real topics and not behen ki shadi kab hogi? You are well are of the law regarding making a will (If not, tune in to Youtube here and learn from India’s top expert- Mr. Satyajeet Desai, Senior Advocate and Revising Author of Mulla on Hindu Law) and now is the time to test your selling skills (Shark Tank, here we come!).
Approach them, talk to them about how you attended this Zoom lecture which got you thinking and now you want to do your bit and spread awareness on making a will. Make it clear– this is a practical advice to plan your inheritance in advance and save your family from the impending fights which may ensue- clarify that this will save the trouble of identifying where the assets are located, you can be the trusted advisor and there is no better time than now when times are uncertain and death is literally everywhere.
What should I say?
We need to insist that will making shows:
- That the decision maker continues to be in charge even after his death.
- Maybe a litigation would ensue- even more days wasted from your sanctioned leaves (because Tareek pe tareek pe tareek).
- It is easier and speedier on the loved ones.
- Abhi toh chita be aag bhuji bhi nahi hai aur the- emotional and financial strain of dividing the assets when you should be mourning or have just gotten out of caring for the deceased during the extensive months when his illness was ongoing (excuse my Hindi please, it’s too Bollywood).
- The stress of death may cause fights amongst siblings- where the property documents are, who will pay for the pending hospital bills, how to make funeral arrangements.
A will making session can also be a good time to discuss whether they want to be put on life support, donate organs, give to any charities or their staff, where the share certificates and property documents would be located (or whether you have a third brother you didn’t know of!).
OOf! You don’t understand, I need an ice breaker- I can’t suddenly transform from that xbox playing kid to their legal advisor
Umm, maybe I need to butt my nose in your business- how about we as (potential) lawyers start our own instagram challenge- give #dalgonachallenge and #tiktok a rest? Let’s start the #makeawill challenge- Post a picture with your family and write the reason you love them and why we should make a will (Zindagi ke saath bhi zindagi ke baad bhi).
Tag your other non lawyer friends to post pictures with their family and ask them to write what they do with their family (yes, they don’t know anything about why they should make a will but I remember the #icebucketchallenge too- who knew what it stood for but it worked right?) Then repost their pictures to spread #makeawill hashtag.
This should help right? It’s also a reason to show off your family in those cute wedding or vacation outfits through #makeawill.
If not, just remind them of the brother’s expensive fight of that rich Indian family as a show opener and start there!
Also try this whatsapp message:
Hey, I am trying to spread awareness on #makingawill in these times of Corona. Make a will and show your loved ones that you care for their safety forever. Reach out to me in case you need any help in preparing the will– in the meanwhile please log on to facebook/instagram/twitter and post a picture with your family showing off your awesome family activities with the hashtag #makeawill and lets spread this awareness.
OK I am starting now, its my turn to be a lawyer and don my cape!
Slow down junior, attend the youtube lecture too and get a chance to learn the art of making a will from one of India’s foremost experts, Mr. Satyajeet Desai, Senior Advocate and Revising Author, Mulla on Hindu Law here.
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