Some tragedies can only be fixed by persuading governments to reverse course. Others, a single person can remedy in 20 minutes. This is one of the latter variety. In a recent series of articles, Philip Cobbs tells the story of the place he's always lived in Virginia: "When I was born, it was the largest Black-owned farm in Albemarle County, at more than 600 acres. I took for granted that I could walk all day and never have anyone ask me what I was doing there. . . . The Garland farm at Buck Island was truly a family farm from 1835 to 1972. In each generation, one family member held the deed to most of the property. If other family members wanted to homestead, they were given small parcels . . . . In my early youth, there were many homes separated by some distance across the property. . . . In the early 1970s, the Garland family member holding the deed to the farm died suddenly without leaving a will. The fate of the farm was in the hands of the court. It was auctioned and Westvaco, a paper packaging company placed the winning bid. . . .Today, there is little evidence of our family farm’s existence." One example of many. No matter the size of your possessions, dying without a will can create completely unnecessary hardships and injustices. Here's the solution. Create a legal will for free in 20 minutes or so through FreeWill.com.  | |
