Contingent bequest in a Will

On Nov 6, 6:34 am, jo <phillysle...@verizon.net> wrote:
> The lawyer who drew up my will told me that the specific
> guidelines I suggest/desire  for the care of
> companion animals be attached in a separate document to the
> will and it should not be typed.

The purpose of a Will is to specify the distribution of decedent's property after he dies.   Although sometimes a testator, through his Will, attemts to control behavior of the legatees by making the distribution contingent on certain conditions being met by the beneficiary before he gets the money (perhaps this is done more often in fiction than in real life), that is an aftereffect of specifying a certain distribution, not something the Will can do directly.   The Will cannot say, "My daughter Suzy must marry that nice young doctor I've been trying to set her up with instead of that hoodlum she hangs around with" but it _can_ say, "I bequeath to my beloved daughter, Suzy, 10 gazillion dollars on the condition that she marry Dr. Nice within 1 year after my death and remain married to him at least 2 years."

So, if you're going to leave someone money to care for your animals, or put it in trust for that purpose, you're not intending to void that bequest if they don't do it _exactly_ the way you specify, are you?  That's what would happen if you put it in your Will.  You're better off having a separate protocol that tells the trustee of your animal care fund what your priorities are, and what your wishes are re: how to care for them.

Similarly, you might want to leave an amount in trust for a minor child or grandchild of yours, with separate directions to the trustee along the lines of, "I would like little Joey to attend Exeter like I did, then Harvard" but you're not going to cut him off if he instead goes to Andover and Yale, or PS 108 and State U.   Such a bequest in trust may specify that it be used for education, but you don't have to get that specific in the Will itself.   In your case, I assume you made a bequest either to an individual, or to a trust, contingent on its being used for care of your animals.   Same deal - don't get too specific in the Will or you may risk cutting off the bequest if not complied with exactly.

> I suspect he would
> suggest the same approach for the disposal of a small
> genealogical collection on my family, but am not 100% sure.

Why would you assume that?   Either approach would work, since this is exactly what a Will is for, specifying the distribution of your property.   But if it's something you may change your mind about frequently, perhaps a separate protocol is the better approach so you don't have to constantly revise the Will itself.

> Is any/all of this standard operating procedure, given the
> circumstances or is this a questionable approach to these
> issues?

Since you were in a hurry to get the will signed and had not yet decided what you wanted to do exactly re: care of the animals, what choice did he have?  But yes, it sounds like a reasonable approach.

--
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Mike Jacobs
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