HI again, I, too, thought that the wording would need to be reviewed and changed, hopefully, with one's lawyer when doing estate planning. However, the idea is a good one, especially for those of us who may not have children, those of us who have elders remarried at a late date and whose new spouses/partners may not know the family or think the materials important, those of us who for one reason or another cease to work on or know where our genealogy papers are, etc. I imagine most of us are not as completely organized as we would like, and many of us may not have published the results of our work. I, for one, strive to reduce and organize the information, but don't seem to be able to keep up with the material (s) I gather. The concept put forth in the posting is merely a suggestion for my part, and most certainly would have been helpful in a number of estates that I have been involved in. In the case of one trust, in which "gifts" can not be made, a mention of the genealogy documents as well as a large collection of slides and photos in the trust would have allowed me to have given the documents to the person most interested in them, rather than the institution receiving the bulk of the trust assets, which did not really want the items but who had to accept them --- and then dispose of them! Something to keep in mind........ Kathy -----Original Message----- From: Lauren Boyd [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2004 1:55 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MarinGenSoc] Beyond a Genealogical Codicill to a will Good Afternoon, Listers: Hi Kathy -- thanks for posting! Feeling a bit lazy, I am copying and pasting in what I responded to someone who commented on this same post by someone else on another list I administer. That poster had some very valid comments regarding the wording and efficacy. This is a partial quote. ............. "In many states, this clause would be precatory, not mandatory. The words "requested" and "please" make it an optional action on the part of an executor." ................. my reply to the thread: Marilyn -- well stated. I, too, was going to mention that it is far better to choose and have an agreement with the person or persons in line to inherit your hard work and pick up where you left off. Many of us have been entrusted with the skeletons in the closet. They are not always documented in our readable records and notes. We certainly do not want to take them with us when we go. That would defeat the purpose of being given the key to the closet in the first place. They need to be entrusted to someone that will not allow them to dance until no harm can come of letting them out of the closet. We need to personally turn over some of those closet keys. Last summer, one of the subscribers to the Boyd list, and a life member of the House of Boyd Society died. Linda was an ***excellent*** researcher. Very meticulous and very picky about how or if records, research, etc. would be shared and with whom. She believed in proving every detail you are given and expected nothing less from others. She would only share GEDCOMS with those that had a particular program so the hard work and notes she included would remain intact. And at that, you did not get "the whole thing." You were grateful to get the portion that was the line you were researching. As most of us do, she had collected mountains of data and had input it, but not yet truly organized her work so that it was "library ready." When she found she had cancer and might only have 2 months to live, more if she was lucky, she used a good deal of her energy, or what was left of it, to spend time with her family -- both living and archived -- to get her life's work in order. She took precious time to find a home for her research and ensuing reports, documentation, correspondence, etc. A college in Tennessee agreed to take her research. It is unrelated to Tennessee and Tenesseans. However, they were so impressed by the caliber of her work, they wanted to house it so it would be shared with others. They provided her with the format and needs to be met in order that they could microfilm her life's work. She knew before she died that her husband would be given a full copy and that subsequently other copies would be sold, and for how much a roll, to offset their microfilm costs. She made this information known to her fellow researchers. When she set to work to tie up the loose ends of her research, as is, she found she had kept multiple copies of all the reports she had probably ever printed and no one but her could really sort them out. So she set about culling the extraneous to make the process easier for someone else to complete if necessary. And it was. Her wonderful husband of many years, a non-genealogical type, was charged with completing the process of preparing the documents of the body of her works for presentation to the Library. She taught him how. And he took it on as a labor of love and honored her life's work. It is now ensured that it will be preserved, not only for her two sons, but for their future children and more. So, while you are considering whom to take the mantle from you with regard to your research, consider the condition you leave it to them. Set a schedule to get your notes and documents put in an order that will be useful and easy for others to follow. Catalog your items. Do not assume a repository or your local genealogical society will accept your "gift" without first consulting them. They may not want it, nor may they have a way to store or deal with it. It is far better for you, the genealogist of your family, research and find a home for your life's work, than to entrust it's future to those who likely would rather roast marshmallows over the nice bonfire it could make! Good topic. Thanks for bringing it up. If anyone has something to add to these tips, please do! Happy Trails, Lauren ............... ps... could you imagine MCGS being chosen to "house" or finish someone's genealogy? We do not at this time have the resources to do so. I suspect that many other Societies do not either. ==== MarinGenSoc Mailing List ==== Mailing address for the Marin County Genealocial Society is Post Office Box 1511, Novato, CA 94948-1511