"I should be celebrating with my little brother this month. He would have been turning 40 years old. David's life was suddenly cut short in 2018, and it took us all by surprise. As we did our best to get our heads around what had happened, we discovered none of us knew his wishes; we had not been brave enough to have 'the conversation' about the inevitable with each other, and we were left with no more time to ask him.
Like most young people, he also didn't have a Will. This meant we had nothing in writing describing his wishes, nor any guide for what should go to his family and friends in terms of sentimental items or funds. The lack of a Will made it very hard to ensure his partner (mother to his child) could access his estate and accounts, as they were not married. This resulted in significant additional documentation to go through, to help his partner, which felt very complicated and unnecessary at a time when we were all so sad.
We did our best to give my brother the best send-off we could in a 'Celebration of Life', but we don't know if it is what he would have liked. These days, we miss him lots but have many happy memories to share from his amazing life. While this is a serious and tough subject to broach, what we all learned was the importance of having that difficult conversation with each other, to create personalised Wills, and to keep them up-to-date."