170 Million Pages Why You Should Avoid Probate

"You can learn a lot about people from their wills.

You can see who was happily married and who was disappointed in their families. You can see who prized brevity and who parceled out every item as if handled by a loquacious auctioneer with lambskin gloves. 

Death may come for us all, but it doesn't necessarily still our voices." 

So begins an excellent article by Todd Leopold, writer for CNN, entitled, "Paul Revere, J.P Morgan wills among millions now online." 

The article continues:

"There's always emotion involved when someone's writing a will," said Jennifer Utley, senior manager of research at Ancestry, the genealogy company. "People make really interesting statements on how much they left people."

Ancestry has now made it much easier to research old wills, whether they're from your family or someone of historical import. The company's website, Ancestry.com, has more than 170 million pages of wills and probate records available, legal records that until recently had been accessible only offline.

Historically significant, no doubt.  These records, culled from probate courts and legal archives serve as an important object lesson; your Will is a public record.  Once filed with a probate court, it is available to anyone, and with the movement to online public records, will one day be online. If you value the privacy of your most intimate thoughts, desires, and emotions, plan your estate to avoid probate.