I need to make a will -- the finances seminar showed me why I don't want to leave more of a mess behind. Does anybody have a MA-based lawyer buddy who can help me write a simple will?

Anyone I know would work for da man and charge you da big bucks. If it is really a simple will, you can probably do it yourself. Check out Nolo Press and see how you feel about it. For a simple will, I'm generally comfortable with recommending to reasonably smart people they consider bypassing the lawyer.

Oftentimes, the irony burns, but sometimes -- sometimes, the irony is delicious: Fred Phelps and his flying monkeys plan to picket Jerry Falwell's funeral.

Would I want a lawyer if in my will I want my body to be put on a log raft, along with all my possessions, which is then set on fire and left floating in Lake Michigan?

From the maniac's website

the corpulent false prophet Jerry Falwell

I am reminded of the crabs, which will pull each other down when one tries to climb out of the cage. Or any number of creatures that turn on their own.

I was going to say - it's only pure luck that death and Allen wrenches don't go together a lot more than they apparently do.

Unless there's been some sort of cover-up. Heeey...

An environmental lawyer if nothing else, Tom.

Would I want a lawyer if in my will I want my body to be put on a log raft, along with all my possessions, which is then set on fire and left floating in Lake Michigan?

That's the kind of thing you don't want in your will because your friends and relatives would have put you in the Ikea coffin and stuck you in the Ikea cemetery before they bothered to read the thing.

An environmental lawyer if nothing else, Tom.

I could just claim it's part of my Viking heritage/religion/thingie. They'd have to let me do it then, right?

Tom, you Viking! ETA: I knew someone would make that joke before I could type it myself.

I had a giant whitey muffin for breakfast.

I've heard good things about Legalzoom in terms of legal document preparation. I interviewed with them and they seemed like a good operation from what little of the inside that I saw.

Signed,
Not Even Remotely Lawyerly.

Would I want a lawyer if in my will I want my body to be put on a log raft, along with all my possessions, which is then set on fire and left floating in Lake Michigan?

Hubby's dream is to be buried in an abandoned mine, wearing his full SCA armor and surrounded with weapons, then seal up the mine with proper inscriptions on the outside. He likes the idea of baffling future archaeologists with a warrior's tomb with modern armor and weapons and body chock full of fancy medical stuff.