Letters to the Editor
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She was old, not ignorant
I am truly amazed at how many people think that an elderly woman writing her own will is not capable of knowing precisely what she is doing. Grandma left to her grandsons exactly what she wanted to leave: she'd known them all their lives, knew that at least one was a "struggling artist" who hadn't yet settled down, and probably knew about his problems with his partner(s) as well. Grandmothers aren't idiots or fools in their dotage just because they're old enough to die. If she had wanted her grandsons to have total control over all the money she had left, she could have and would have arranged that.
But she did not. Speaking as a person who written my will, and as a woman, I can understand why she might prefer to leave at least some bequest to someone she was fond of, and not leave it all to grandsons about whom she might long have had mixed feelings. I have relatives who have expectations that will be disappointed when I die. I know when and how I'm being played, and by whom, and why, and I would still rather leave my money where it could do the most good, and to those people of whom I am most fond. Accordingly, my lawyer divided my estate precisely as I asked, and not according to the presumptions of those who are left behind.