When you think wills are usually read may not be when they are read in actuality.

When Are Wills Usually Read - The Hollywood Version

We all know from Hollywood movies when wills are usually read. First, there’s some character and plot development, setting up an extremely wealthy person who is either very, very old or very, very ill.

One character emerges from the plot as a hero, full of virtue, who perhaps was very attentive and devoted to the deceased. Similarly, one character emerges as a villain, full of evil, who might have been mean and horrible to the deceased, but who may have pretended to love the deceased very much.

At some point, the old, ill, wealthy person dies, and somewhere along that point in the movie, before the plot goes much further and before any other characters are introduced, that is when wills are usually read. All the characters show up in a stuffy law office and listen to the lawyer of the deceased, almost always played by a man, drone on incessantly, reading through all the legalese of a will until he gets to the point where, unbelievably, the deceased leaves all of his vast wealth to the villain and leaves nothing to the hero. A blockbuster is born, and the rest is history.

When Are Wills Usually Read - The Real Life Version

The real life reading of a will is not nearly as dramatic as the Hollywood version. In fact, will are usually not read when someone dies. The attorney for the estate files a document saying that the deceased had a will, and copies of the will are sent to the heirs ¨C that is, the people who will inherit property under the will or who are affected by the will such as through a guardianship or trustee arrangement.

The one exception when wills are usually read out loud to a group of people in a lawyer’s office, like you see in the movies, is where the deceased specified in his or her will that it was a last wish that their will be read aloud to the group in that manner. Other than that, wills are usually not read aloud when someone dies.