Today’s Latin word of the day is testis. It means “witness” and gives rise to the English words testimony, testament, and yes, a certain anatomical term. It also gives us the word testator, which means a person who has a written will. It is said that everyone in Tennessee has a will. You either have the one you write, or the one the State of Tennessee writes for you, known as the rules of intestacy. A person who passes without a will is said to have died intestate–without a will. Now, for many people, the laws of intestacy might work okay. On the other hand, they might dictate the disposition of your estate in a way completely contrary to how you want it disposed of. For example, under the laws of intestacy, a surviving spouse doesn’t “get everything” like many people believe–the spouse will get a certain percentage, but any adult children will get a percentage, and even children of deceased children would take a percentage. It also makes it difficult to either avoid probate entirely or avoid conflict, since there is no written account left to the family members of what the deceased actually wanted to happen. The intestacy laws also don’t contemplate such other things you might want to designate, such as child custody decisions. If you need a will or are experiencing other legal problems, I can help.