Court Will Not Seal the Will of Joe Paterno

As I have previously discussed, the family of Joe Paterno requested that his will be sealed from public view. Now, the family of late-college football coach has released the contents of his will, which includes both his 1997 will and the 2010 codicil. This came shortly after a newspaper called The Citizens’ Voice filed a motion to unseal the will. 

What makes this story interesting is the family’s attempt to seal the will in the first place, especially because there are options that a person can take to ensure that his or her affairs remain private after his or her death. For example, a person can establish a revocable trust to ensure that their affairs are private. Unlike a will, the trust and its contents are not subject to probate and thus they remain private. If a person does want to avoid the probate process, a person might want to take into consideration the fact that only assets that are within the revocable trust will avoid the probate process. Even if a person wants to completely avoid the probate, it might still be a good idea to make a will. The private nature of trusts does not diminish the importance of making a will. Wills, for example, are one of a few types of documents where a person can nominate a guardian. In this case, it is also strange because there is nothing particularly special about Joe Paterno’s will. 

See Deborah L. Jacobs, Joe Paterno’s Family Gives Up Trying to Keep His Will Secret, Forbes, June 19, 2012.