The lack of estate planning and leaving a will is an all too common occurrence among African Americans. According to a recent Consumer Reports study, more than 70 percent of Black Americans do not have wills. 

That disturbing statistic has not only led to relentless drama and potential discord in afterlife planning, but if there’s any money involved, it could be a recipe for disaster. 

The malaise is so common that even celebrities have fallen prey -  Chadwick Boseman, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Tupac Shakur, Bob Marley, and more all died without a will.

“Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin, who died in 2018, left behind four different handwritten wills, and more than four years after her death, her four adult sons are still fighting each other in court over her estate.

Legendary hip hop artist DMX’s sudden and unexpected death left 15 children all vying for “their share” of his inheritance. Sadly, many experts predict that his fiancé of 7 years and mother of his 15^th  child is likely to suffer most getting nothing in the aftermath of a will-less death and departure.

Family, I encourage you to join the New Unity Church in February 2024 during our Write the Vision Month where our theme will be Financial Resource Expansion & Explosion (FREE). 

Now is the time to stem the tide.

Grateful to Editor Frances Murphy Draper and the Afro American Newspaper for much of the content of this article.