Unusual Wills

Your will   is written to help your family orchestrate the disposal of your estate when you’ve bit the dust. Whilst yours may be simple, here are one or two unusual ones.

Make A Will Don’t Leave It to Chance
It is practical to make a will. The majority of us know this, but actually getting around to it seems such a bother.  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 biggest surprises came with the reading of his will. His magic equipment went to his former partner Theodore, who was also his brother. His conjuring powers failed on the next term – his bountiful library of writings on magic and the supernatural. He left these to the American Society for Psychical Research, but with the requirement that the research officer J Malcolm Bird, who additionally was the editor of their journal, resigned. They declined the terms the collection was given to the Library of Congress.

The stage rabbits that he utilised in his tricks vacated their hats and were divided around the children of friends. Continuing the unusual style, his gave his wife ten words, which was a secret code, with the assurance that he would employ these words to contact her from the afterlife. Each year for ten years, following his death, she dutifully held séances, but Harry never made contact.

Rock and blues singer Janis Joplin had a short but interesting career. She made many 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 demise in 1970 her  free will      the figure 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 party – that was an appreciable 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 anger of their relatives. Lot’s of family rows begin 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 made, there is often little that can be done to object to such a decision.

Eccentricities apart, if you pass on without leaving a will, those who you would wish to inherit will not necessarily be the ones that do so. You could have a partner of many 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 problematic when it’s not clearly understood and can result in devastating financial consequences.

The current way to get your will under way is to search online and locate a online wills      . However basic your intentions are, it’s best to have the professionals to write it for you and you can be confident that you’re leaving your estate exactly how you would wish them to be.