Notable Wills
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 a few unusual ones.
To You I Leave Flopsy Who Will…
It is practical to make a will. The majority of us know that, but actually getting around to it seems such a inconvenience. How much thought went in these “wills with a difference”?
Even the celebrated conjurer and escapologist, Harry Houdini, couldn’t escape death. Having perished from a burst appendix, one of his greatest shocks came with the reading of his will. His magic supplys went to his former partner Theodore, who was also his brother. His magical powers didn’t work on the next items – his appreciable library of tomes on magic and the supernatural. He left these to the American Society for Psychical Research, but with the condition that the research officer J Malcolm Bird, who additionally was the editor of their journal, resigned. They refused the conditions the compilation passed to the Library of Congress.
The trained rabbits that he utilised in his tricks left their hats and were divided around the kids of friends. Continuing the odd theme, his gave his spouse 10 words, which was a secret code, with the pledge that he would employ these words to reach her from the afterlife. Each year for 10 years, following his death, she reliably held séances, but Houdini never made contact.
Kozmic Blues and rock singer Janis Lyn Joplin had a brief but notable career. She recorded many rock classics and four albums, including “To Love Somebody” and “Me and Bobby McGee”. After years of drugs and drink, she died from an overdose, aged 27. Two days prior to her demise in 1970 her wills online the figure of 2,500 dollars to sponsor an all night party at her favourite bar 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 heard of people that, unexpectedly, give all their money to the cats’ home, much to the disbelief of their family. Many family feuds start when a will is read. As long as there is no reason to doubt the clear thinking and freewill of the person when the will is made, there is often little that can be done to contest such a decision.
Quirks aside, 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 many years, but if you’re not married or in a legal partnership, he or she won’t get your money, heedless of your designs and affirmations. This can be upsetting when it’s not clearly stated and can cause terrible fiscal results.
The up to date way to get your will under way is to search online and source a wills online . However basic your intentions are, it’s best to get the professionals to write it for you and you can be sure that you’re leaving things exactly how you would want.