Wills On Ice With A Twist
Your probate will is designed to help your family orchestrate the disposal of your estate when you’ve passed away. Whilst yours may be simple, here are one or two unusual ones.
Will’s With A Difference
It makes sense to make a will. All of us understand that, but actually getting around to it seems such a hassle. How much consideration went in these “wills with a difference”?
Even the celebrated conjurer and escape artist, Harry Houdini, couldn’t escape death. Having died from a ruptured appendix, one of his biggest surprises came with the will reading. His magic supplys went to his former partner Theodore, who was also his brother. His mystical skills failed on the next term – his considerable library of books on magic and the supernatural. He left these to the American Society for Psychical Research, but only on the condition that their research officer J Malcolm Bird, who also was the editor of their journal, stood down. They declined the offer the collection passed to the Library of Congress.
The trained rabbits that he employed in his act came out of their hats and were divided around the kids of friends. Continuing the wierd theme, his left his wife 10 words, which was a secret code, with the assurance that he would use these words to reach her from the afterlife. Each year for 10 years, following his death, she reliably held séances, but Harry never made contact.
Rock and blues singer Janis Joplin had a brief but memorable career. She made many rock anthems and four albums, including “To Love Somebody” and “Me and Bobby McGee”. After years of drugs and drink, she passed away from an overdose, aged twenty seven. Two days before her demise in 1970 her free will the figure of 2,500 dollars to fund an all night wake at her favourite bar so that her mates could “get blasted after I’m gone.” It must have been some celebration – that was a sizable amount of money back in 1970.
We’ve all read about people that, randomly, give all their money to the cats’ home, much to the disbelief of their relatives. Lot’s of family rows 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 little that can be done to object to such a decision.
Eccentricities aside, if you pass on without leaving a will, those who you would want to inherit will not necessarily be the ones that do so. You could have a partner of many years, but if you’re not married or in a legal partnership, he or she won’t receive your money, regardless of your aims and promises. This can be sad when it’s not clearly understood and can cause awkward financial results.
The current method to get your will started is to go online and locate a online wills . However basic your aims are, it’s best to have the professionals to write it for you and you can be confident that you’re leaving your estate exactly how you would wish them to be.