Gardens require lots of tender loving care. They might even have real value. Maybe you never knew that the tulip garden your grandmother keeps is an annual prizewinner and worth a fortune. Other than material wealth, gardens can be part of family tradition.
Children play in there, birthdays take place, prom pictures and weddings are often in the garden as well. The garden can be an important part of family memories. As such, it is important to try and preserve it. One way to do so is by putting it in you will.
Aside from who will get the garden, it is important to state in the will how the garden will be taken care of. Perhaps a certain amount of money would need to be set aside every month to pay for its care. Or perhaps the responsibility would be given to a family member that truly loves the garden as much as you do.
Who and the how of garden care will be focal questions for you to focus on when drafting your garden into your will. If the garden was winning prizes while grandma was alive, there should be no reason for it not to continue doing so. Gardens, in this case, should be thought of much like people in the will.
Lastly, there might be a set of instructions listing the steps necessary to take care of the garden. This might be on a daily or weekly basis but the main thing is to write down what has worked well so far so that it can be repeated by the new caretaker.
Personal emotions and thoughts about the garden should not be left out as you want the new person to feel as much passion for the garden as you did. This makes the garden much more like a person and less like something that just needs to get done.
Attention! We are not attorneys and we are not lawyers. We cannot represent customers, select legal forms, or give advice on rights or laws. The article provided is for information ONLY and is NOT a substitute for the advice of a lawyer.