Your cheap will is drawn up to help your family orchestrate the disposal of your estate when you’ve expired. Whilst yours may be simple, here are one or two unusual ones.
Will’s The Last Laugh
It is sensible to make a will. Most of us realize that, but actually doing it seems such a chore. How much consideration went in these “wills with a difference”?
Even the legendary magician and escapologist, Harry Houdini, couldn’t escape death. Having died from a ruptured appendix, one of his greatest shocks came with the will reading. His magic equipment went to his former partner Theodore, who was also his brother. His conjuring powers fizzled on the next term – his ample collection of scrolls 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 additionally was the editor of their journal, stood down. They declined the terms the collection was given to the Library of Congress.
The trained rabbits that he used in his act left their hats and were given to the children of friends. Continuing the wierd style, his left his spouse ten words, which was a secret code, with the pledge that he would employ these words to contact her from the afterlife. Each year for 10 years, following his death, she reliably held séances, but Houdini never made contact.
Rock and blues singer Janis Joplin had a short but interesting history. She made many rock anthems and four albums, including “To Love Somebody” and “Me and Bobby McGee”. After years of substance abuse, she died from an overdose, aged twenty seven. Two days prior to her demise in 1970 her online wills the sum of 2,500 dollars to fund an all night party at her favourite pub so that her friends could “get blasted after I’m gone.” It must have been some wake – that was an appreciable amount of cash back in 1970.
We’ve all read about people that, unexpectedly, give all their estate to the dogs’ home, much to the dismay of their relatives. Lot’s of family feuds begin 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 contest such a decision.
Quirks apart, if you die without writing a will, the people who you would want to inherit wont 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, in spite of your intentions and promises. This can be problematic when it’s not clearly stated and can cause awkward financial results.
The current method to get your will started is to search online and locate a will adviser . However simple your aims are, it’s advisable to have the professionals to make it for you and you can be sure that you’re leaving things exactly how you would wish them to be.
