Many people, when the end is nearing, think that it is better to make sure that their wealth will reach the right hands by giving it direct and at once.
Now, no matter the nobility of the motive that prompts such an act, it is one which, on the whole, cannot be commended.
It is all very well to spend available means in order to set a son or daughter up in business, but such sums, if there are other heirs, should be charged against the share of the probable donee, with interest, and a record made of the same.
Under no circumstances should old people, who, after raising a family and living honorable lives, have saved enough to own their home and secure an income for their declining years, deed or give this property to their children, or to any one else, in consideration of their having all their subsequent wants met.
The better way for the farmer, the merchant, or the manufacturer, when he feels the years pressing heavily and that he can no longer attend properly to the old demands on him, is to shift by a properly drawn contract the business management of the enterprise to his children, or to those whom he wishes to place in charge.
In this way the ownership is not changed, and if the new management should prove to be inefficient, it can be placed in more efficient hands.
CARE OF WILLS
As has been said, every person having property of any kind to dispose of should make a will.
Already ways have been given as to how wills should be made and estates administered, but to these it may be well to add another point.
Do not imagine that the making of a will shortens life.