The need to write your last will and testament

This client of mine who is a rich Arab trader currently married to a Filipina beauty from southwest Cebu, has properties in the Middle East, Malaysia, here in the Philippines (a resort complex in Boracay just renovated, a resort in Palawan, and a five-star hotel in Luzon, as well as an agri-aqua farm in Negros Oriental), and a number of mansions and businesses in the United States. He has investments in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and deposits in Swiss banks. He has two families and two sets of children. The children of the first marriage are not in good terms with the children of the second marriage, except for the youngest of the first marriage and the eldest in the second marriage, both boys who are in boarding school together in the outskirts of London.

But the good news is, unexpectedly, the two wives are actually distant relatives and are civil to each other. They meet regularly, have tea together and even go shopping together to Paris and New York. I will meet the two wives in my client's mountaintop mansion in South Lake Tahoe, near the border of California and Nevada. They don’t know their husband has a will and that I prepared and notarized it. And now, I am going to meet my client because he wants to add more properties in the inventory, and a secret illegitimate son with her personal nurse to be added as an heir. I met this guy sometime in 2010 when I was assigned as a diplomat in Kuwait. He has business there and was recruiting Filipinos. Both his Filipino wives were his former employees.

There is a need to settle his estate because his doctor has given him a few more months to live, and he has been bedridden for two years already. Of course, he does not want his heirs bickering or feuding in court after he dies. The first marriage produced four sons and three daughters and 14 grandchildren. The second marriage produced three sons, two daughters, and seven grandchildren. All children and grandchildren plus the two wives have been named in the will I prepared a year ago. Now that there is an additional heir, he told me to amend his will and include his young illegitimate son and add more properties. He also changed his executor because the first one named died in a car accident in Orlando, Florida, a month ago.

This is the tenth will that I have prepared so far as a lawyer, and I have made extensive research on private international law, focusing on multi-racial and cross-country marriages, and property relations. I even took a special course in Harvard on this line of law practice when I was still working for San Miguel Corp. When I was assigned as Philippine labor diplomat in Malaysia, I prepared two wills, one for a Chinese businessman based in Kuala Lumpur, married to a Filipina from Dumanjug, Cebu. The other one was for a Muslim Malay member of parliament representing Sabah. He had three wives and the latest is a Filipina from Argao, Cebu. Next to labor laws, family and marriage laws are becoming my fields of specialization.

My advice for those with many properties and a number of heirs is to settle their estate while they are still of sound mind and will, in order to go in peace into the next life. I strongly suggest that they write their own holographic will or have their notarial will prepared.