Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 943, Making a Will.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 943.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a story about making a will, a plan for what happens to your property when you are no longer on this earth.
Let's get started.
Last week, I got a wake-up call.
One of my oldest friends from high school died suddenly in an accident, leaving no will.
With no estate planning at all, his assets went into probate and his dependents were left in limbo.
My friend was a young man, the same age as me.
At our age, who thinks about estate planning?
Well, he should have, and I'm starting right now to put my affairs in order.
I've already decided who will be my beneficiaries and how much of an inheritance each family member will get.
One big decision I'm still thinking about is who should be my executor.
I want to make sure my bequests are carried out and my assets are properly disposed of.
So this person has to be trustworthy.
After I make those decisions, I'll write a holographic will.
It's the simplest way of drawing up a will and adding codicils without an attorney.
And since I'm still of sound mind, there shouldn't be any problems.
I'll ask my neighbors to be witnesses.
Before I start drawing up my will, though...
I still have one other important decision to make.
Who should get custody of my eight cats?
This episode is about the happy topic of death what happens, not to you when you die, but to everything that you own?
We're talking in this story about making a will.
A will W-I-L-L is a legal document saying what should happen to your money and the other things that you own after you die.
If you want to give your car when you die to your friend, you have to put that in your will.
It's a written typically statement that says what you want to have happen to your property, to the things you own, after you die.
Our story begins when I say, last week I got a wake-up call.
To wake up means to stop sleeping, to be conscious again.
A wake-up call is when someone calls you, for example at a hotel, to wake you up in the morning.
Hotels used to do that.
Some hotels still do.
Back before they put alarm clocks in all of the rooms, which is pretty common nowadays in most hotels.
You could ask the hotel to call you on the telephone and wake you up at a certain hour.
As I say, there are many hotels that still do that.
The expression to get a wake up call, however, is a little different.
It means to experience something surprising, something shocking, or to see someone else experience something, often negative, that makes you think again about your own life and what you are doing with your life.
To get a wake-up call is always used to indicate that you are seeing something or realizing something that you didn't realize before.
And now your view of the world is a little different.
I said, I got a wake-up call.
One of my oldest friends from high school died suddenly in an accident, leaving no will.
This did not actually happen.
It's just a story.
But it could happen.
Someone dies in an accident and doesn't leave a will, doesn't leave a legal statement saying where they want their property to go.
With no estate planning at all, his assets went into probate and his dependents were left in limbo.
The word estate, E-S-T-A-T-E, can mean a couple of different things.
Here it refers to all of the money and things that you own when you die.
That's your estate.
Estate planning is deciding, before you die, what is going to happen to your things and, And more importantly, how to make things easy for the people who you will give your things to.
Estate planning could include things like making sure that the government doesn't take all of what you have in order to pay taxes, because in most places, in many places in the US, you have to pay taxes to the government, especially if you have a lot of money when you die.
Assets, A-S-S-E-T-S. refers to something you own, something that has value.
It could be money, it could be jewelry, it could be a house.
All of those are assets.
The word probate P-R-O-B-A-T-E refers to the legal process where the government, the courts, decide how your assets are going to be given out.
The technical word we would use here is distributed.
How will your assets be distributed?
If you die and you don't leave a will, then the government determines who gets your money, based on certain laws and rules that have been set up for that situation.
A dependent is a person who is financially depending on or financially connected to another person, usually someone who doesn't have their own job or doesn't have another source of income, or at least not very much income.
To be left in limbo, L-I-M-B-O, means to be in an uncertain condition, an uncertain situation.
You're not quite sure what the final decision is going to be about, what you're going to get in this case.
To be left in limbo means to not know what is going to happen to you.
This is typically used when someone has to make a decision about something, but he or she hasn't made that decision yet.
In the story, I say that my friend did not have any estate planning.
So his assets went into probate and his dependents were left in limbo.
The government is going to decide who gets his money, and the people who were depending on him, the people who were perhaps receiving money from him when he died now are in a situation where they don't know what they're going to get.
My friend was a young man, I say, the same age as me.
Well, I'm not that young, but young enough.
At our age, I say, who thinks about estate planning?
People who are young don't think about dying and what will happen to them when they die, so they don't think about things like wills and estate planning.
Well, I continue, he should have, meaning he should have thought of that.
And I'm starting right now to put my affairs in order.
The expression.
To put your affairs A-F-F-A-I-R-S in order means to prepare for your death by making sure all of your documents are are in place for the people who have to come after you and take care of your assets.
To make sure that you have a will would be another part of putting your affairs in order.
It's an expression we use when someone is getting ready to die in a way, or at least getting prepared in case they do die.
I then say I've already decided who will be my beneficiaries and how much of an inheritance each family member will get.
A beneficiary is a person who receives some benefit, often a person who receives money or other things after someone else dies.
Beneficiaries could also get money from, for example, an insurance policy.
Inheritance refers to the money or the things that a person will actually get.
We use the verb to leave someone.
I'm going to leave you my car.
That means that when I die your inheritance, the thing that you will get from me is my car or my bike.
I'm not sure if I want to give you my car, but definitely my bicycle.
I continue, one big decision I'm still thinking about is who should be my executor.
The executor E-X-E-C-U-T-O-R is the person who is responsible for taking care of your affairs your financial affairs after you die.
A bequest.
B-E-Q-U-E-S-T is another word for the money or property that is given to a person or to an organization, to a beneficiary, after you die.
It's similar to the idea of an inheritance.
The word inheritance usually refers to a family member, someone you are related to.
If that person gets something, you could call that an inheritance.
If it's another person, a friend or an organization, we would talk about a bequest.
I want to make sure that my bequest is carried out, that the money actually goes to the people I want my money to go to.
I also talk about my assets being properly disposed of, meaning the person who is my executor does with the money what I want him to do with the money.
After I make those decisions, I'll write a holographic will.
A holographic will is a will that is written by hand.
That's all the word holographic means here.
Written by hand, not typed on a typewriter if you still own a typewriter or on a keyboard for a computer and then print it out on a printer.
Those types of wills are not holographic wills.
A holographic will is written by hand the old way.
I say that A holographic will is the simplest way of drawing up a will and adding codicils without an attorney.
To draw up something, or to draw something up means to prepare and write out a document, especially a formal document.
We're going to draw up a contract.
We're going to prepare an agreement to buy a new house.
To draw up a will would mean to prepare the will, to write it down, to get it ready so that it can be used.
A codicil, C-O-D-I-C-I-L, is like an amendment to your will.
It's something that you add to your will after you have written it.
Maybe you've changed your mind about giving your car to your nephew.
You can write a codicil giving your car to someone else.
Or your bike.
Then I say, since I'm still of sound mind, there shouldn't be any problems.
The expression sound mind is often used in legal situations.
It means the person is rational, is able to think clearly.
Basically, that the person isn't crazy.
In order to write and sign a will, you have to be of sound mind.
If you're not, then the government may not carry out the terms of your will, what you say you want done in your will after you die.
I then say, I'll ask my neighbors to be witnesses.
A witness, in this case, is a person who sees you sign the will yourself.
A witness is saying, yes, this person actually signed the will and I was there to see it.
Witnesses are required for certain kinds of special contracts or documents, including a will.
I end by saying, before I start drawing up my will, though I still have one other important decision to make.
Who should get custody of my eight cats?
Custody C-U-S-T-O-D-Y refers to the responsibility that a person has to take care of someone, such as a young child or an animal.
When a husband and wife divorce, someone gets custody of the children.
Perhaps the mother gets custody of the children, meaning she will be the one who is primarily responsible for the child and has the legal authority to make decisions for the child.
We don't talk about custody for someone who is an adult and who is of sound mind.
If you have some sort of mental difficulties, then it's possible that someone would have custody of you.
They would have the legal authority and right to make decisions for you.
We don't normally talk about getting custody of an animal, and certainly not a cat.
That last sentence is a good indication that this story is completely made up.
Now let's listen to the story, this time at a normal speed.
Last week, I got a wake-up call.
One of my oldest friends from high school died suddenly in an accident, leaving no will.
With no estate planning at all, his assets went into probate and his dependents were left in limbo.
My friend was a young man, the same age as me.
At our age, who thinks about estate planning?
Well, he should have, and I'm starting right now to put my affairs in order.
I've already decided who will be my beneficiaries and how much of an inheritance each family member will get.
One big decision I'm still thinking about is who should be my executor.
I want to make sure that my bequests are carried out and my assets are properly disposed of, so this person has to be trustworthy.
After I make those decisions, I'll write a holographic will.
It's the simplest way of drawing up a will and adding codicils without an attorney, and since I'm still of sound mind, there shouldn't be any problems.
I'll ask my neighbors to be witnesses.
Before I start drawing up my will, though, I still have one other important decision to make.
Who should get custody of my eight cats?
Our greatest asset here at ESL Podcast is, of course, our script writer, the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
