What will Charlie inherit?
Inheritance was the topic for my class today on Roman law, politics and society—not that wills, legacies, trusts, and the notion of the factio testamenti are the most appealing subjects to 18 to 22 year olds on one of the first days of spring. Throughout the chapter in our textbook, I kept reading this proviso regarding “capacity” for making and witnessing a will, and being an heir:
- Labeo, Posthumous Works, Epitomized by Javolenus, book 1: In the case of someone who is making his will, at the time when he makes the will, soundness of mind [integritas mentis] is required. (D.28.1.2)
By those lacking “soundness of mind,” the Roman jurist Labeo is referring to insanity which is, I cannot underline enough, something entirely different from autism. Nonetheless, reading about someone who “lacks capacity” to make judgements for himself in legal matters, and in wills in particular, made me think of my will—-the one Jim and I had drawn up in 2000 while we were living in St. Paul when Charlie was not yet three years old. We were to go to a conference on religion and disabilities in North Carolina in the upcoming months and we would be boarding an airplane while Charlie stayed with my parents and what if………….
You could say that my thinking here is verging on catastrophic and alarmist. But I’ve no idea what Charlie would do without Jim and me (what parent does not think this?). Having a will drawn up that would indicate who would take care of Charlie and how he would come into his inheritance—and who would help him oversee it—-were matters I realized I was glad to be considering, and signing my name to.
I mentioned all this to my students, while noting that I would not have thought about making a will until much later, but for Charlie. (We are also in the process in setting up a special needs trust for Charlie.)
As for what else he will inherit from us—-one thing I hope we might leave is that the world will be a better, safer, much more understanding and unconditionally welcoming place for autistic persons. It will not be an easy legacy to create in light of one terrible event this week and so much misunderstanding about autism—-but I think it would make Charlie, and our society, so very much richer.
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POSTED IN: History, Legal Issues
3 opinions for What will Charlie inherit?
Club 166
Mar 24, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Thanks for bringing this up again. There’s definitely more to planning for the future than this year’s IEP.
Though it does bring up my guilt level, because I still haven’t gotten on this since your last posting. :)
Julia
Apr 2, 2007 at 5:34 pm
We need to finish stuff up with our estate lawyer, ourselves….
(One of the problems we were looking at was allocation of resources to each of the children. More than one when one is more in need of care than others makes things more interesting…. Of course, at this point, we have no idea what anyone’s needs are going to be at, say, 30. I expect C. to need more than T., for example, but more what? And am I right? Very hard to tell at 3….)
Autism Vox » The “Cost” to Society
Apr 3, 2007 at 11:31 am
[…] is true, Jim and I know we have to plan ahead for Charlie’s future. I hope that Charlie will be able to work and hold down a job; I will be cautiously optimistic and […]
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