To You I Leave Flopsy Who Will
Your cheap will is written to help your family organise the disposal of your estate when you’ve expired. Whilst yours may be simple, here are one or two unusual ones.
Will’s With A Difference
It seems prudent to make a will. The majority of us understand that, but actually getting around to it seems such a hassle. How much thought went in these “wills with a difference”?
Even the celebrated conjurer and escape artist, Harry Houdini, couldn’t trick death. Having perished from a ruptured appendix, one of his greatest shocks came with the reading of his will. His magicians supplys went to his former partner Theodore, who was in addition his brother. His magical skills fizzled on the next term – his considerable array of scrolls 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, resigned. They declined the conditions the collection was given to the Library of Congress.
The performing rabbits that he employed in his performance came out of their hats and were distributed amongst the children of friends. Continuing the strange style, his left his spouse ten words, which were a secret code, with the promise that he would use these words to contact her from the afterlife. Each year for 10 years, following his death, she dutifully held séances, but Houdini never made contact.
Kozmic Blues and rock singer Janis Joplin had a short but interesting career. She sung several rock classics and four albums, including “To Love Somebody” and “Me and Bobby McGee”. After years of substance abuse, she died from an overdose, aged 27. Two days before her death in 1970 her wills online the figure of $2,500 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 wake – that was a large amount of cash back in 1970.
We’ve all read about people that, randomly, give all their estate to the cats’ home, much to the dismay 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.
Quirks apart, if you die without writing a will, those who 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 get your money, in spite of your designs and assurances. This can be sad when it’s not clearly understood and can cause awkward financial results.
The modern way to get your will started is to go online and locate a will call . However basic your intentions are, it’s best to have the professionals to make it for you and you can be assured that you’re leaving things exactly how you would want.