Dialogue – “The Legacy Letter”

DIALOGUE BY Karleen C. Chinen

I don’t know whether you caught this in our July 20 issue. In case you didn’t, allow me to call it to your attention.

Last month, while copy-editing attorney Ethan Okura’s Estate Planning Insights column, which he titled “An Ethical Will,” I came across this paragraph: “Historically, an ethical will stems from early Judeo-Christian traditions. There are examples of them in the Bible and have continued as a practice to this day, especially in the Jewish community. A nonreligious modern example was former President Barack Obama’s legacy letter to his daughters, dated Jan. 18, 2009, the eve of his inauguration as president.”