There's nothing like a single word sometimes to usher in a bit of mid-life crisis. In my case this happened when I finally got around to making a will. Made me want to go out and bungee jump or something.
I was going for the simplest will possible, since it's a good thing to have in place but I didn't have much to decide about. It's one of those things like insurance or enduring powers of attorney - hard to get when you really need them, but easy to do at any other time.
Essentially all I needed to come up with were two executors to carry out my wishes, decide whether I wanted to be cremated or buried, and have two witnesses as I signed it. Peasy.
Then it came down to what lawyers, funnily enough, call "residue" in their lawyerspeak. Apparently this is the term they use for anything that we're leaving behind and need to give special instructions for. Technically, residue refers to whatever assets of the estate remain after any debts or expenses are paid out.
"Residue"? I don't know about you, but residue reminds me of the leftover soup sludge in a tin after you pour it out. Not the most uplifting image, to be sure.
