Drawing Up Wills

That it takes a smart man to draw a will is au lage the respect for which in the legal fraternity is evideuced by the f act that few lawyers want to furnish visible evidence of their part iu draw' ing up wills. It is perfectly easy for a man to Irire a lawyer to draft his testament, of course, no matter how complicated its provisions inay be. It is qnite another thing to get the lawyer to witness it. He will uot eveu allow clerks I in his office to do so except perhaps where the cliënt is an oíd or regular one. He wants him to go elsewhere to get the necessary attestations. There are exceptions to this nnwritten rnle, it is trae, but it is pretty generally observed. "Lawyers will not so admit it, " said one of them, "but the trne reason is they don 't care to be identified with the instrument. It is about as difficult an undertaking as a lawyer can face to draw np a will where the bequests are surrouuded with conditions that will close up all loopholes to a contest. Most testators know how they want to dig' pose of their estates, but it is exceedingly hard to express their wishea in a way that will leave no doubt when subsequently disappointed heirs cali it into question. The books teem with instances of the inability of smart men, some of them distinguished lawyers, to make a will that will stand under a Btiff fight. Lawyers naturally don 't want to be associated with a document that may be pronounced bad, and so they are unwilling to sign as witnesses or to let their employees do it. I suppose it to some extent argües a lack of confidence in their work. Anyhow the precaution is of little use, for invariably the lawyer who drew it is disclosed in anv litieation over a wilL "