Wills With An Exceptional Twist
by editor on Nov.17, 2009, under News
Your will is written to help your family orchestrate the disposal of your estate when you’ve died. Whilst yours may be simple, here are one or two memorable ones.
Make A Will Don’t Leave It to Chance
It is practical to make a will. Most of us realize this, but actually getting around to it seems such a chore. How much thought went in these “wills with a difference”?
Even the celebrated conjurer and escapologist, Harry Houdini, couldn’t trick death. Having died from a burst appendix, one of his biggest surprises came with the will reading. His magicians supplys went to his former partner Theodore, who was in addition his brother. His mystical skills didn’t work on the next term – his ample array of tomes on magic and the supernatural. He left these to the American Society for Psychical Research, but only on the term that their research officer J Malcolm Bird, who additionally was the editor of their journal, resigned. They turned down the conditions the collection was given to the Library of Congress.
The stage rabbits that he utilised in his act vacated their hats and were distributed amongst the kids of friends. Continuing the wierd style, his left his spouse 10 words, which was a secret code, with the pledge 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 career. She wrote several rock anthems and four albums, including “To Love Somebody” and “Me and Bobby McGee”. After years of substance abuse, she passed away from an overdose, aged 27. Two days before her death in 1970 her online wills the sum of 2,500 dollars to sponsor 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 a sizable amount of money back in 1970.
We’ve all read about people that, unexpectedly, donate all their money to the cats’ home, much to the disbelief of their family. Many family rows start when a will is read. As long as there is no reason to doubt the sanity and liberty of the writer when the will is written, there is often nothing that can be done to object to such a decision.
Quirks aside, if you pass on without leaving a will, those whom you would wish to inherit wont necessarily be the ones that do so. You could have a partner of several years, but if you’re not married or in a legal partnership, he or she won’t receive your money, heedless of your aims and promises. This can be upsetting when it’s not clearly understood and can cause awkward financial consequences.
The modern way to get your will under way is to search online and find a will adviser . However basic your wishes are, it’s best to get the professionals to write it for you and you can be sure that you’re leaving your affairs exactly how you would want.
