Ethical wills, also called legacy letters, spiritual autobiographies, and credos, serve as messages to your loved ones. These short written (or spoken) records express your values, appreciations, wishes, and life’s lessons.

Ethical wills address these questions:

• What values and principles have guided your life?
• What are the most important family traditions, rituals, or practices that you hope your children and grandchildren will maintain?
• Of what are you the most proud? What do you regret?
• What are your greatest hopes for those who come after you?
• What is most important in life?

One woman wrote what she called a credo — a list of principles that guided her life. After her death, it was read at her memorial service. It included these values:

“To greet each day as a gift…to find richness in a simple way of living…to be inventive, self-reliant, curious, and searching…to be in awe of the incredible intricacies and order of the universe…to treasure memories of shared love and respect and to never be afraid if there is pain as well as joy in reliving them….”

A heartfelt document of this sort can be shared with family and friends as soon as you prepare it, or included as an addendum to your last will and testament.

For an inspiring discussion of ethical wills, see “Writing Down a Recipe for a Life Worth Living,” published in the Washington Post on July 4, 2004.

“Bequeath your values, not just your valuables.”

— Barry Baines, M.D.
    Ethical Wills: Putting Your Values on Paper
    (Perseus Publishing, 2002)