Our Reader to Reader Question of the Week:

Dear Readers,
, “I really ought to make a will.” She never did. Last week she died, and before the body was cold my cousins were fighting over her possessions. It was an ugly spectacle. Some months ago my mother gave me an antique silver service. Later I found out she had promised it to my sister. We are both dis-tressed by mother’s forgetfulness, and neither of us wants to hurt her feelings by mentioning her previous commitment. My sister is not greedy and neither am I. We can live with whatever the most recent will decrees. I realize that making a will is an admission of the inevitability of death. While this understandably is difficult, one of the most thought-ful gestures a parent can make is to draw up a will or simply a hand-written paper designating what he or she wishes done with material possessions. Please urge parents (everyone, for that matter) to ease the burden of their passing by making a will. And do it today-there may not be a tomorrow. -A Loving Child, Anywhere USA