Your will is constructed to help your loved ones organise the disposal of your estate when you’ve bit the dust. Whilst yours may be simple, here are one or two with some quirks to them.
Will’s With A Difference
It makes sense to make a will. All of us realize that, but actually getting around to it seems such a inconvenience. How much thought went in these “wills with a difference”?
Even the legendary conjurer and escapologist, Harry Houdini, couldn’t escape death. Having died from a burst appendix, one of his biggest surprises came with the reading of his will. His magicians supplys went to his former partner Theodore, who was in addition his brother. His mystical powers failed on the next item – his bountiful collection of tomes on magic and the occult. He left these to the American Society for Psychical Research, but only on the term that the research officer J Malcolm Bird, who also was the editor of their journal, stood down. They rejected the terms the compilation was given to the Library of Congress.
The white rabbits that he employed in his act abandoned their hats and were divided around the kids of friends. Continuing the wierd theme, his gave his wife 10 words, which formed 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 faithfully held séances, but Harry never made contact.
Kozmic Blues and rock singer Janis Lyn Joplin had a short but notable career. She made several rock anthems and four albums, including “To Love Somebody” and “Me and Bobby McGee”. After years of drug addiction, she passed away from an overdose, aged 27. Two days prior to her death in 1970 her free will the sum of 2,500 dollars to sponsor an all night party at her favourite pub so that her mates could “get blasted after I’m gone.” It must have been some celebration – that was a large amount of money back in 1970.
We’ve all read about people that, randomly, donate all their estate to the dogs’ home, much to the disbelief of their family. Lot’s of family rows start when a will is read. As long as there is no reason to doubt the sanity and freewill of the person when the will is written, there is often nothing that can be done to object to such a decision.
Eccentricities apart, if you die without writing a will, the people whom you would wish to inherit will not always 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 intentions and promises. This can be sad when it’s not clearly understood and can result in terrible fiscal consequences.
The modern way to get your will under way is to search online and locate a online wills . However simple your wishes are, it’s best to get the professionals to write it for you and you can be assured that you’re leaving your affairs exactly how you would wish them to be.
