Unusual Wills
Your wills online is drawn up to help your family sort out the disposal of your estate when you’ve gone. Whilst yours may be simple, here are a few with some quirks to them.
Will’s With An Exceptional Twist
It makes sense to make a will. All of us understand that, but actually getting around to it seems such a chore. How much consideration went in these “wills with a difference”?
Even the legendary conjurer and escapologist, Harry Houdini, couldn’t trick death. Having died from a ruptured appendix, one of his biggest shocks came with the reading of his will. His magicians equipment went to his former partner Theodore, who was also his brother. His conjuring powers failed on the next item – his considerable array of tomes on magic and the supernatural. He left these to the American Society for Psychical Research, but with the term that their research officer J Malcolm Bird, who also was the editor of their journal, stood down. They declined the terms the compilation was given to the Library of Congress.
The stage rabbits that he used in his performance abandoned their hats and were distributed amongst the kids of friends. Continuing the odd style, his left his wife 10 words, which formed a secret code, with the avowal that he would employ these words to contact her from the afterlife. Every year for ten years, following his death, she reliably held séances, but Harry never made contact.
Kozmic Blues and rock singer Janis Joplin had a short but memorable history. She recorded several rock anthems and four albums, including “To Love Somebody” and “Me and Bobby McGee”. After years of drugs and drink, she died from an overdose, aged 27. Two days prior to her demise in 1970 her cheapest wills the sum of $2,500 to fund an all night party at her favourite pub so that her mates could “get blasted after I’m gone.” It must have been some party – that was a large amount of cash back in 1970.
We’ve all heard of people that, randomly, give all their estate to the cats’ home, much to the disbelief of their family. Lot’s of family feuds start when a will is read. As long as the person who made the will is of sound mind and not under duress, there is often nothing that can be done to object to such a decision.
Quirks apart, if you die without writing a will, those whom you would wish to inherit will not necessarily be the ones that do so. You might have a partner of several years, but if you’re not married or in a legal partnership, he or she won’t get your estate, heedless of your intentions and promises. This can be upsetting when it’s not clearly stated and can cause terrible financial results.
The modern method to get your will started is to go online and find a free wills . However simple your designs are, it’s advisable to have the professionals to make it for you and you can be confident that you’re leaving things exactly how you would want.
