{ "model": { "rank": 3249, "code": "thing-q155656", "model_id": "vr.tr.will-q155656", "name": "will", "purpose": "Let an agent explain wills, relay types, formalities, contests and cross-cultural traditions from legal and historical sources in general terms, describe the named forms, point people to lawyers and free legal advice, warn about will-writing scams, and distinguish wills from trusts, intestacy rules, living wills or advance directives and powers of attorney.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q155656/", "tier": 2, "score": 89, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "political testament", "codicil", "digital will", "okibumi", "Islamic will", "pour-over will" ], "aliasCount": 6, "merged": 6, "knownIn": 89, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.will-communication", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q155656", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q155656", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-14T00:01:21Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q155656", "registryId": "vr.tr.will-q155656", "name": "will", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q155656/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.will-q155656", "name": "will", "purpose": "Let an agent explain wills, relay types, formalities, contests and cross-cultural traditions from legal and historical sources in general terms, describe the named forms, point people to lawyers and free legal advice, warn about will-writing scams, and distinguish wills from trusts, intestacy rules, living wills or advance directives and powers of attorney.", "definition": "A legal document expressing how a person s property and affairs should be handled after death, naming executors and beneficiaries and sometimes guardians for children, with formalities such as signing and witnesses set by national law, amended by a codicil, and forms the registry aliases name including pour-over wills that transfer assets into a trust, digital wills addressing online accounts and digital assets, and the Islamic will or wasiyya, limited in Islamic law to one third of the estate for non-heirs; the registry also includes political testaments, documents setting out a leader s political legacy, and okibumi, medieval Japanese documents of instructions for heirs. Rules on validity and inheritance vary widely, and people should seek legal advice for estate planning.", "what_it_is_for": "Directing affairs after death.", "affordances": [ "explain types and formalities in general terms", "relay cross-cultural traditions", "describe named forms", "point to legal advice" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Takes effect at death", "Formal requirements", "Revocable during life", "Culturally varied" ], "appearance": "Signed and witnessed documents, sometimes filed with courts or registries.", "visual_identification": [ "Legal document for affairs after death", "Political testament, codicil, digital will, okibumi, Islamic will, pour-over will", "Trusts hold assets during life or after; intestacy rules apply without a will; living wills cover medical care; powers of attorney act during life" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "Wills Act in England and Wales", "typical_range": "1837", "unit": "year", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Islamic wasiyya limit", "typical_range": "one third for non-heirs", "unit": "note", "note": "classical rule" }, { "quantity": "US Uniform Electronic Wills Act", "typical_range": "2019", "unit": "year", "note": "adopted by some states" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "formal witnessed wills", "holographic wills", "codicils", "pour-over wills", "religious and customary wills", "political testaments" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "legal transaction", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is amended by", "target": "codicil", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "intestacy", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "advance healthcare directive", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "National succession laws", "EU Succession Regulation 650/2012", "Islamic inheritance rules in some jurisdictions" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Giving legal advice", "Invalid wills from missing formalities", "Will-writing scams and undue influence" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a will is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a will, and how does it differ from trusts, intestacy, living wills and powers of attorney?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about making or contesting a will, which needs a lawyer, or about history and concepts?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "forms", "name": "Forms", "description": "Named forms.", "findings": [ { "id": "forms-finding", "name": "Forms", "description": "Forms.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are codicils, pour-over, digital and Islamic wills, political testaments and okibumi?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific form?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "law", "name": "Law", "description": "Formalities.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "validity", "name": "Validity", "description": "Validity.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-finding", "name": "Validity", "description": "Validity.", "questions": [ { "text": "What formalities such as capacity, signing and witnesses make a will valid, in general terms?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "probate", "name": "Probate", "description": "Probate.", "findings": [ { "id": "probate-finding", "name": "Probate", "description": "Probate.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is probate, and how are wills contested, in general terms?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "traditions", "name": "Traditions", "description": "Traditions.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "islamic", "name": "Islamic", "description": "Wasiyya.", "findings": [ { "id": "islamic-finding", "name": "Islamic", "description": "Islamic.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do Islamic inheritance rules and wasiyya interact, with scholarly views attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Islamic inheritance jurisprudence?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "japan", "name": "Japan", "description": "Okibumi.", "findings": [ { "id": "japan-finding", "name": "Japan", "description": "Japan.", "questions": [ { "text": "What were okibumi in medieval Japanese families?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Modern issues.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "digital", "name": "Digital assets", "description": "Digital estates.", "findings": [ { "id": "digital-finding", "name": "Digital assets", "description": "Digital assets.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can people plan for online accounts and digital assets?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits digital inheritance?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "scams", "name": "Scams", "description": "Scams and undue influence.", "findings": [ { "id": "scams-finding", "name": "Scams", "description": "Scams.", "questions": [ { "text": "What warning signs of undue influence and will scams do regulators describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits undue influence?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should political testament be moved to historical document entries?", "Should okibumi be a separate entry?", "How should succession law be linked by country?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "discipline or field of knowledge", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a will, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain wills, relay types, formalities, contests and cross-cultural traditions from legal and historical sources in general terms, describe the named forms, point people to lawyers and free legal advice, warn about will-writing scams, and distinguish wills from trusts, intestacy rules, living wills or advance directives and powers of attorney.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: political testament, codicil, digital will, okibumi, Islamic will, pour-over will.", "6 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 89 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a will, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says" ], "howItIsRecognised": [], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "political testament", "codicil", "digital will", "okibumi", "Islamic will", "pour-over will" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 89 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 6 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one will from another, and a will from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a will sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a will from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a will passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a will between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a will, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a will is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a will says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a will contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a will and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-method", "name": "Subject matter and method", "description": "What will studies and how it establishes anything.", "rationale": "A field is identified by its questions and its methods, and those are what distinguish it from the fields next to it.", "layers": [ { "id": "subject", "name": "Subject matter", "description": "The questions it takes as its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "subject-record", "name": "Questions and objects of study", "description": "What it is about, stated so a neighbouring field can be told apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "subject-record-q01", "text": "What questions and objects does will take as its own?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "subject-record-q02", "text": "Which questions does it share with a neighbouring field, and who claims them?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "method", "name": "Method and evidence", "description": "How claims are established and what counts as evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-record", "name": "Methods and standards of evidence", "description": "The methods used and what they are taken to establish.", "questions": [ { "id": "method-record-q01", "text": "By what methods does will establish claims, and what counts as sufficient evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "method-record-q02", "text": "What kind of claim can this field not settle, and where should an agent look instead?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "institutions-and-classification", "name": "Institutions and classification", "description": "Where will is practised and how catalogues place it.", "rationale": "The institutional footprint is the evidence that a field exists as a field rather than as a topic.", "layers": [ { "id": "institutions", "name": "Institutional markers", "description": "Societies, journals, degrees and departments.", "findings": [ { "id": "institution-record", "name": "Bodies and venues", "description": "Where the field organises itself.", "questions": [ { "id": "institution-record-q01", "text": "Which societies, journals or degrees mark will as an established field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "institution-record-q02", "text": "What would show that it is emerging or dissolving rather than established?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification", "name": "Classification schemes", "description": "Where library and research classifications put it.", "findings": [ { "id": "classification-record", "name": "Codes and their disagreements", "description": "The classification codes that place it, and where they differ.", "questions": [ { "id": "classification-record-q01", "text": "Which classification schemes place will, under what codes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "classification-record-q02", "text": "Where do those schemes disagree about its scope?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a will came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a will and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a will is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a will, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a will, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a will is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }