Arthur Marara

“My papers are in order, and I pray for an order in terms of the draft”, this is the recital that I was taught when I was being prepared to go to the “motion roll” in my very early years of legal practice. This statement is new to many people who are not in the legal profession.

The motion roll also called the unopposed roll, simply deals with matters that are not opposed. The assignment of the attending party is to have their papers in “order”, so that they appropriately pray for an “order” in terms of the draft. The key word in all this is “order”. The question that I want to ask you today is, “is your house in order.”

Rude awakening for One King

“In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.” (Underlining is mine for emphasis) [Isaiah 38:1ff] (NIV). Three other translations say;

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’” (NLT)

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your affairs in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’” (HCSB)

“The LORD says you won’t ever get well. You are going to die, and so you had better start doing what needs to be done.” (CEV)

Hezekiah was one of the most respected kings of Judah but when the time came for him to die there was a certain aspect of his life which was exposed, his house. There was no order in his own house. This means you can have order in your office and career yet your own house lacks order. There are lots of people who have excellent offices, businesses whilst their own families are not in order. The real chaos occurs when they die, but some they even get to see it during their lifetime.

Reality Check

I never thought that I would be writing this article in the early days of the year, but the truth is that people are dying in numbers. People are dying, and this time people that you know are dying. In my profession, we lost quite a number of colleagues. It is sad, but unfortunately that is also life.

If you were to drop dead now, how will life be for your survivors and dependants?  This is the question that many of us are not applying our minds to yet it is the reality of avoiding it that often plagues the survivors.

Whatever you are doing I want you to stop for a minute and seriously think about it, and ask yourself these questions;

Are you sure your family, and business is strong enough to continue life without you?

Are you positive that your family is well covered and well prepared for life after you?

The greatest gift you can give to your children, and family is to prepare them for your absence.

You do not have tomorrow

Who told you will be there tomorrow? I am not being negative. I am being practical. Have you ever had the experience of seeing a person and after some hours you are told that they are dead. If you have, you are not alone. I have had several such experiences this year alone. Healthy people lose their lives in our faces. There are several people who are critically ill, who are predeceased by many people who appear “healthy”. That’s why we often ask, “What happened?” every time a person dies. The mere fact that you are not sick is not a guarantee that you will sleep on your bed tomorrow. We should learn from this and properly align of our affairs.

Death is inevitable

No matter how you live your life, you will die. Steve Jobs towards the end of his life left us some provocative thoughts on death, “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

You may want to cry about it, you will die. We will all die, whether poor, or rich, powerful or weak, slow or fast. We will all die. In reality, no one wants to die. Steve Jobs later on said, “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” If you have attended a funeral you will realise this reality.

Plan your estate

Interestingly, lawyers make money from drafting “complex wills” for clients yet they die without even writing a simple will for themselves. I know of several. They make money in estate matters with heavy fights, yet find no wisdom is planning their own estates. There are so many people who are dying intestate as we speak right now.

There are two possible scenarios which might explain why people are not planning their estates. It’s either you are too busy to sit and down and do your estate or there is no estate to plan. The third one borders on lack of seriousness. In the first scenario my advice is simple, do not be too busy to sit down and plan your estate. In the second scenario you may need to read my articles that I publish in the Business Weekly or my shows on Star FM on how you can develop yourself.

Inheritance fights can be seriously nasty and at times they can even be bloody. The people who win in inheritance fights are lawyers. Never be fooled for once. Your disorder may cause someone to make a fortune. Wise up and plan. There are people who will never look for you during your lifetime, but they will only feature when you die to claim their “share”.

Did you know?

There is a list of some celebrities who died intestate i.e. without leaving a will or any testamentary disposition. Prominent examples, include the famous musician Prince who died in 2016, and left behind an estate estimated to be around $300 million. He had no will with all his wealth. The estate is yet to be finalised.  There are even more examples of people who died intestate, Amy Winehouse is one of them. Bob Marley also died intestate, and 30 years later after his death, his family members were still suing each other arising from estate disputes.  What this shows you is that their houses were not in order.

You need a will that will ensure that your executor has clarity of instructions on how your estate will be distributed. You also need to pay attention to tax implications when drafting and preparing your will. You can also set up a family trust as part of your estate planning mechanisms. Protect your loved ones through proper estate planning.

In the coming weeks I will be taking you through the finer details of Estate Planning and some of the things you can do to plan your estate.

I will do follow up articles in detail on how to write your Will and set up a Trust as part of your Estate Planning. Do not miss out the follow up to this article.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The material contained in this post is set out in good faith for general guidance in the spirit of raising legal awareness on topical interests that affect most people on a daily basis. They are not meant to create an attorney-client relationship or constitute solicitation. No liability can be accepted for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying in particular circumstances on statements made in the post. Laws and regulations are complex and liable to change, and readers should check the current position with the relevant authorities before making personal arrangements.

◆ Arthur Marara is a corporate and family law attorney. As an attorney, he has worked over the years preparing and arranging for execution of wills including living wills, and Family Trusts. Follow him on social media (Facebook: Attorney Arthur Marara) or WhatsApp him on +263780055152 or email [email protected]