Ethical will

What is an 'ethical will'? An ethical will is a will that records YOU, your life, your stories, your values and ideals and principals you've lived by. It captures your essence, who you really are, on video.  It is not a legal document.  It is different from a will in that a legal will deals with valuables and assets whereas an ethical will deals with values and experiences. Having  an ethical will is the most valuable thing you can leave to your family.

Have you ever had someone in your family from a generation or so ago, who has become somewhat of a legend?  Stories are told and retold about this fascinating person, about what they were like and what they did to make them interesting enough to talk about now.  When you think about it, you can never capture their essence in descriptive words.  You can learn that they were 'nice', 'funny', 'intelligent', 'kind', just like thousands of other people. Words fail to capture their true selves.  But when one is recorded, then others can see the person talk and hear the tone in his/her voice, they can see the movements, slow or fast or otherwise and they can sense the person's attitude.  Now they can get a feel of who that person really is and what they were really like. In the future, you may be that legend. You may not think so now.  You may not think anything about your life would be interesting to future generations, but the fact is, it will be very interesting and they will want to know everything about you, just like you would like to know about that mysterious far off relative who has left so little information about themselves leaving you wanting more.

You need a skilled interviewer to probe and ask you the right questions to end up with a video that portrays you, what you stand for, your beliefs, and that tells interesting stories about your life and how they impacted on you and formed you.

You can have yourself recorded and give copies to family members.

Please feel free to respond to this article if you have further questions.

Christine