Writing a will: What to leave behind after you die | BJ Miller

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It may be an uncomfortable thing to do, but creating a will can save your loved ones a lot of headaches after you're gone.

- A will is not a simple, one-piece-of-paper kind of document. There are many different kinds of wills: There's a will to handle your things. There's a will to handle your body. And there are wills to handle your legacy.

- If you don't prepare a will, and if you don't set up a trust, and if you don't arrange your advance directives, then you, and your loved ones, fall into these default legal mechanisms that aren't necessarily always commonsensical.

- In ethical wills, which are gaining popularity today, deceased individuals pass along tips of wisdom or things they've learned to those who survive them — this is an opportunity for them to pass along the narrative of how they say life, what they thought of themselves and others, and what they hope for their loved ones.

BJ Miller, MD, is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco where he practices and teaches palliative medicine. He has been profiled in The New York Times Magazine, and interviewed on Super Soul Sunday, The Tim Ferriss Show, and On Being with Krista Tippett, and has spoken at the Aspen Ideas Festival and around the world. Miller’s relationship with palliative care stems from an accident while an undergraduate at Princeton – an electric shock was nearly fatal and required the amputation of three limbs.

He is the co-author of A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death (https://amzn.to/2SABQwN)

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