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Even if we don’t like to think about it, death is the inevitable end to our journey. We tell ourselves not to worry about it since it won’t happen for a long time. After all, only a handful of people look forward to the day when they’ll need to sit down and write out their wishes about the care of their children, pets, and the things they value most in this world.

Yet, some family members decide that this is the best way to surprise their relatives, even from beyond the grave. User melshole created a thread on Ask Reddit where they gave lawyers the chance to share some of the most interesting, bizarre, and offensive things they ever saw in someone’s will, and hundreds of responses started pouring in.

From hilarious stipulations to the strangest demands, Bored Panda has collected some of the best answers from this viral thread. Have a read through these stories and upvote the wildest ones. And if you've ever heard some strange bequests people left in their wills, let us know in the comment section below!

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#1

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Not a Lawyer, but an aging woman my family knew left her house(large, and in a very affluent neighborhood) and estate to family friends for so long as her cats were alive and taken care of in said house. After they died, the house was to be sold and the remaining estate donated.

The weird thing is, it's been like 20 years and the cats are still alive.

Also, they've changed color.

EndlessArgument , umit ozbek Report

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iffypedia
iffypedia
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

damn colour changing cats making it hard to tell when to sell the house

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#2

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandfather hated his neighbor. They lived next to each other for 20+ years. I remember well my grandfather raging at every opportunity about this guy. We never saw them speak to each other.

In Grandpa's will, he left the guy $10K, a car, and golf clubs. We were dumbstruck.

Turns out, they were good buddies from the army. When they coincidentally bought homes next to each other, they decided to play a long scam with both their families. They actually played golf together two to three times per week and had a monthly poker game for years.

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#3

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandfather passed a few hours ago, but my grandmother came to me after with a navy blue tie featuring pink elephants. Ridiculous looking, but she said that he wore it to intimidate people in business, as someone willing to wear such a ridiculous tie doesn't care about what people think. That scares people. So he wanted me to have it, so I could do the same.

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Sapna Sarfare
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The grandpa is actually cool... Brilliant man.. God bless his soul

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While some family members and lawyers couldn’t believe the things others write in their wills, you can’t help but think about preparing one of your own. Sooner or later, many people come to this realization and want to ensure that their wishes will be carried out after they pass away. 

Yet, a poll conducted by Gallup last year found that slightly less than half of U.S. adults have a will, and it seems that the results are not drastically changing since 1990. According to the global analytics and advice firm, people aged 65 and older are the most likely subgroup to have a will. Also, “upper-income Americans are much more likely than lower-income Americans to report having a will.”

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Everyone can benefit from spelling out their last wishes. After all, life is unpredictable and chaotic, so expressing your requests and instructions can make things much easier for those left behind. Patrick Hicks, general counsel at Trust & Will, wrote that creating a will takes a load off your shoulders once you know you’ve set up your loved ones with protection when they’ll need it most. 
#4

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will "To my daughter Anne, who created my beautiful granddaughter Jane, and her dear fourth husband John, who laid hands on my Jane, I leave one dollar you money-grubbing b*stards. To Jane, I leave all of my monetary assets, save $5,000 and my best gun, which I leave to my son Bill, on the condition that he beats John bloody during the time between my funeral and my burial. Jane, bail your uncle out of jail, please."

Other than names, this is the exact wording of a great-uncle's will... And in case anyone wondered, yes, Bill got his five grand. He didn't get arrested, though, because John had a warrant on him, so he didn't dare call the cops. Bill did kindly inform the police of his whereabouts a few weeks later.

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#5

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will I'm not a lawyer, but my family has an odd story involving a will.

Several generations back, a woman (along with her brothers) in our family inherited a huge sum of money from her father (oil money in Oklahoma). At the time, women were allowed to inherit property/assets if single, but all assets would have been transferred to her husband if she married.

She wasn't too happy about the situation and, in protest, never took a husband. She had a few "friends" over the course of her life and lived a very comfortable life until dying of old age. At which time, her estate was divided amongst all of the female descendants in the family.

tl;dnr: my great, great, great aunt of something was a bad ass feminist b****.

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#6

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My great-grandfather had a pair of socks that he only wore on Christmas Day with the family. They were hideous. After he passed, we found out he left those socks to my uncle in his will and told him to carry on the tradition, which my uncle has done. I've already been told I'm getting them next.

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Debbie Barnes
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think this is lovely. Okay, it's not something that is going to improve your life, but it's a tradition within your family and I love that idea.

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So if you believe that this daunting process can make you feel stressed and anxious, Hicks provides several points of what you should think of before writing your will. So first, lay out your assets (don’t forget your digital assets like email or online accounts) and consider your final wishes. It’s important to make them crystal clear if you want everything to be honored as you intended. 

Then gather the needed documents like birth certificate, marriage license, mortgage information, and others that are significant to you. The next noteworthy step is to choose the people responsible for carrying out your instructions. 

“Choose someone trustworthy and capable of handling the financial, legal and moral obligations required to complete the process,” Hicks advised. You need to name beneficiaries as well: “Remember that the more specific you are, the better the chance your estate will be settled as you envision.”
#7

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandpa gave me all his tools (which sounds dumb, but we are in the same trade, and it was a real life changer. It included a lift and his old shop truck, so I pretty much got everything to start my own shop but a building), a pretty good chunk of change, and his dog Tanner, as long as I made sure his live-in girlfriend at the time got nothing at all, and I told my uncle he was fat and his wife was going to leave him if she couldn't find his pecker. There was literally a script inside the will.

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#8

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandma left a penny and a nasty comment to almost every person in her will - all of her sons and daughters, even a few grandchildren. Except for me. I got 1,000 dollars.

Thanks, Grandma.

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#9

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will I read a lot of estate documents as part of my job. There is so much subtle shade in them occasionally, they can be pretty entertaining. One super wealthy lady had a huge section for the care and well being of her pets, with primary and successor caretakers, a certain amount of money from the trust for care and feeding of each pet (one pet owner might receive 3k a month to take care of one of her pets after she passed), and certain stipulations on how they were to be cared for. While some might see it as excessive, the language and stipulations she had, and how they were referred to showed that she really, really loved her pets.

In that same will and trust, she also left a slew of people only one dollar, so that there would be no chance they could take the trust to probate court one the basis that they were merely forgotten. That part had SO MUCH SUBTLE SHADE. A lot of "they know what they did", "they are well aware of their guilt in the matter", etc. They she split up about 2 million dollars among 5 or 6 different animal rescues and animal welfare charities.

It was around 200 pages long, and I swear I read the entire thing just for the sheer entertainment value.

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Who Panda 420
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This lady is awesome and I'm sure the animal charities needed and appreciated the money way more than her family members

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The process of choosing guardians for your children, dependents, and pets may be the most crucial yet difficult part of it all. “We never want to think about not being there for those who need us most, but to protect them, it’s well worth the discomfort.”

So when you’ve finally made all of these tough decisions and written your will, finalize it “with the correct number of signatures your state mandates.” And remember, life is constantly changing, so Patrick Hicks recommended reviewing your documents every three to five years, and updating them if needed. 
#10

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Not me, but whenever I visited my old grandma in Nicaragua, it would always seem my aunts and uncles would be weirdly nice to her, almost as if she was a famous person. People would be visiting her house to greet her and strike a conversation. One day, my mother walked into my grandma's room to have a conversation with her.

I remember during the flight back (3-4 after the conversation) I asked her what the conversation was about. She told me that grandma used to have childeren that almost never talked to her, and now that shes sickly they are trying to act nice to get stuff out of her will. My grandma wanted to talk to my mom to ask her what she wanted from the house. My mom was always the favorite growing up since she charised grandma, and grandma wanted to pay her back for being a good daughter. My mom replied with "I don't want anything for you, I just want your love" and they both smiled at eachother.

(Also she wanted us to take a washing machine back home to sell it for cash, but we declined)

FYI: She's still alive. Grandma aint giving up yet

[deleted] , Danie Franco Report

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Who Panda 420
Who Panda 420
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for her hopefully she will outlive the money grubbing relatives and teach them a lesson

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#11

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My great-grandmother left most of her money to a local donkey sanctuary.

[deleted] , hermaion Report

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Cactus McCoy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Better give the money to the asses than to the dumb-asses, I guess?

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This process might make you feel overwhelmed with thoughts about your life and your loved ones. Consider writing it all down—or sit down and make a video about it—and leave a genuine statement about your experiences, memories, and general things that shaped your life. While it may seem hard at first, those you care for will be touched by it.
#12

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Not a will, but a deed. The City I work for was renovating a small park that was donated to the City in the 1910s. We went looking through the hand-written deed for easements or other restrictions and found that the family could claw the property back if the park were not, "perpetually provided with a fountain of pleasant running water fit for consumption by man and beast alike." ...the family still has descendants in town, so we installed a new water fountain with a dog bowl filler just to be safe.

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Cactus McCoy
Cactus McCoy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love this one. "Yeah, you cn have the land as long as it stays a park for recreation. Exploit this and we will take it back." Great.

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#13

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will When my great aunt whom I barely had any relationship with died, I discovered that in her will, she left me a taxidermied giant silk moth that she had hanging on her wall. Evidently someone told her about my love for bugs. I still have it and it's one of the coolest things in my collection of odd knickknacks.

...she left my cousin a Furby.

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Sean Pack
Sean Pack
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A new Furby or an original one?My opinion hangs on the answer to this!!

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#14

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will A good clause is always “for reasons known to them.” which is will-speak for “you’ve gone and f**ked up, ***hole. I don’t forgive you.”

In my own will, I’ve left my father “The contents of my kitchen trash can at the time of my passing, for reasons known to him.”

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#15

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Family friends did this - they have a net worth in the seven figures and two children. They left everything to their daughter and $1 to their son "for reasons known to him" (he has been estranged from them for a while).

That way, their daughter won't be caught up in any kind of legal battle. By naming the son in the will and leaving him "some" money, he can't claim that he was "omitted" from the will in error.

This was in following with their estate lawyer's advice. Of course, their son can fight it, you can fight anything, but it's a much harder battle if he's expressly mentioned in the will and left something specific.

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Sabrina Bowen
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am learning more from this thread about what I need to do in my will than I ever did after many conversations with my attorney.

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#16

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandmother had her b**bs done when she was in her 60s. Nothing really wrong with that, but when she died, she wanted an open casket with her b**bs on display. Really, Nanna? She passed away at 80 and got exactly what she asked for. Grandad had ended up sticking two strategically-placed daisies on her b**bs. So she got what she wanted, and so did Grandad. RIP Granny, you silly b**** love you.

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#17

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandfather left my uncle three things from his rather valuable estate:

One dollar in unrolled pennies.

A framed copy of a contract my uncle signed saying he owes my grandfather more than $100K (never repaid).

A framed copy of the letter my uncle sent my grandfather saying he was disowning my grandfather for "being cheap," with my grandfather having written, "Accepted, a**hole," and signed his name at the bottom.

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#18

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will This one isn't necessarily crazy, just an interesting glimpse into the mind of a kind old woman in her 90s.



My aunt and uncle (both were more like parents and incredibly beautiful people) passed away within a few weeks of one another. When my uncle became ill, the aunt tried to work on a will with her long-term lawyer, but she was kinda just old and out of it. Her main concern the entire time was small knick-knacks like a jar of pennies she wanted a distant cousin to have or a used jacket from the 70s she bequeathed to a sister-in-law.



It was quite touching how much time she spent carefully considering each item and who would get it. Most of the items were used and didn't even really hold any sentimental value, she just wanted them to go to good homes.



When she passed away, everyone knew exactly who was getting each odd item. The real kicker is when the lawyer told the primary beneficiaries that she never got around to the bigger assets and all that jazz. She basically told the lawyer, "Pay for our funeral and anything we owe and then family members x, y, and z can figure out the rest." It ended up being millions in homes, lakefront property, jewelry, antique firearms, vehicles, life insurance policies, stocks, bonds, gold coins, etc. etc.



Luckily, the family is very close and everything went off without a hitch. They were amazing people who wanted to keep family items in the family, they just didn't put that much weight on their incredible wealth. They also hid their wealth amazingly. We all knew that they were very comfortable, but no one had any idea they were deep into eight-figure assets. It was just funny to see a random niece get a set of plastic cups, worn dance shoes, and a check for $125,000.

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#19

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will I’m not a lawyer but my dad put something really weird in his will. I a 17 year old last year was the recipient of a rock thrown at my head. I owed it to my dads quirky sense of humor and he probably thought that it would be the funniest s**t to ever happen and it was even any special rock it was one you’d find at the bottom of a river. Anyways this year I was reading some of the stuff he had written as I was never allowed to see the will being that I was too young at the time and didn’t think he’d end up dying. Regardless the note under My name and recipient items I was to get if he died was “throw this rock at ———— and hit him in the head with it but make it surprising” and I was thinking what the s**t dad what kind of a will is this. Then I read a little further on and he had left a note saying this is the rock that I had hit him in the head with when He was teaching me how to skip rocks when I was younger and I hit him so hard to dented his skull above his ear and it never really healed. It was the most meaningful thing he’d ever done and after all the years me and my dad had messed around with each other it was his way of winning and taking the final crack at me. It was so heartfelt it moved to tears. He got the last laugh and I was completely ok with it

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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sorry...(tearing up old Will and trying to think of the heaviest thing I can pay my lawyer to throw at random relatives without "complications".)..

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#20

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Not a lawyer but had a very interesting experience when my grandma passed. My family has pretty much moved on from where my grandma lived, except myself and my children. Every week I went to her house for dinner. When I had my youngest (who is one now) she cooked me a meal everyday to feed my family so I wasn’t drowning. None of her other grandchildren or children spent any time with her. When she passed there was a lot that everyone wanted but she left everything to me. Even a stash of gold coins that she had buried in her back yard. She didn’t have much, but the little things I have from her mean everything to me. It was a huge ordeal and pretty much everyone hates me but maybe they should have spent time with her.

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ThatOneWriter
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"...and pretty much everyone hates me" It is disgusting that people care more about the money they might get when someone dies than about the loss of someone usually referred to as a loved one. And then they have the audacity to hate the person who was close to the deceased person.

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#21

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Might be late to the party and not a lawyer, but my great-grandad had a clause in his will that stated something along the lines of, “if any of the beneficiaries decide to dispute the contents of the decedent’s estate, their share becomes $1 and nothing else.”

Seemed like a pretty good way to maintain harmony among his survivors.

nelson227 , cottonbro Report

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Crazy Dog Lady
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wish everyone in my family had done this! So much fighting, shows you what people really value.

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#22

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will "To my wife I leave her lover and the knowledge that I was never the fool she thought me. To my son I leave the pleasure of working for a living - for 25 years, he thought the pleasure was all mine." --- Best dis ever. Was in my Wills & Trusts book in law school as an example of people talking s**t in their wills (you're supposed to discourage them as lawyers from doing so)

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#23

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandpa put in his will a chocolate bar for every one of his grandkids. Well, I have like 12 cousins, and it was very difficult to track down where a couple of them went. All the estates and money he had in his will were at a standstill for months because they couldn’t find a couple of cousins. We had to show the court that we put in effort to hire someone to track them down, etc. The lawyer that was helping execute the will was blown away that another lawyer allowed this, and why he wouldn’t highly suggest Grandpa not do it.

But I’m not complaining, 'cause I got a Toblerone out of the deal!

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BlackestDawn
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How does that lawyer know the one helping with the will didn't highly suggest against the chocolate bars? Since it is a legal action they couldn't stop grandpa from doing it regardless of how much they suggested against it.

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#24

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandfather left me $1.00, he had dementia and confused my dad ripping him off with me. He left the rest of the family between $100,000 And a few million each. They all said they felt horrible because they knew the details, but not horrible enough to give up any of their share. The way I see it is it was never my money to begin with, so it's not a loss. I'm just glad my sister got a hundred thousand,she needed it more than any of the others.

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Libstak
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If he had dementia and the whole family knew this was questionable then this could be easily contested.

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#25

When my grandfather passed his will asked that I clean out his shed, and I alone.

I found marijuana seeds, old reel style film p***ography, which was hilarious and a bunch of other unsavory paraphernalia. 50's flick knives too.

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Who Panda 420
Who Panda 420
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I collect old vinyl record albums and you'd be surprised how many times you open them up and there's marijuana seeds still stuck in the corners.

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#26

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Just last week I handled a matter where the parents left millions in artwork to various people, wads of cash to various charities, and only left their kids the family cats. Turns out they did it because the kids got them the cats to comfort the parents in their old age and the parents f**king hated the cats but the kids wouldn’t let them get rid of the cats.

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#27

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Rich uncle of mine, real crazy, and not in a good way...

When he died he had no friends... He left his entire estate to an Elvis impersonator. Everything.

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#28

Best will story I personally know of:

The Father had a valuable antique Grandfather Clock, he also had 2 daughters. His solution:

If I die on an even day, daughter A gets the clock, an odd day and Daughter B gets it.

The Daughter who did not get the clock got an equivalent cash award based on the value of the clock.

I know of the event because I had to service the clock several times over the years.

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#29

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will In my trusts & estates class in law school, we read a case about a man who left everything to his wife, but only if she got his body stuffed and left it on the living room couch forever.

Luckily for her, the court invalidated that part of the husband's will. IIRC, part of the reasoning was that it would make it impossible for her to date/remarry if she had her husband's creepy dead body glaring at anyone who came to see her.

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#30

My maternal* grandpa was wealthy. He divorced my maternal grandma, remarried, and promptly dropped dead of a heart attack. He was only 48 and had no will so everything went to his new wife, my moms stepmother. She was actually really nice and was planning on making sure that everything was "fair"...till she died in a car accident 6 months later. She was a widow herself prior to marrying grandpa and had a now orphaned 15 year old son from the previous marriage who got everything. My mom and her siblings had to go to the auction at their childhood home and buy back as much of their heirlooms and memories as they could afford (and, truthfully, stole some of what they couldnt).

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Who Panda 420
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's heartbreaking... It shouldn't be considered theft when they're your items

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#31

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandma's will literally says that one daughter is to get nothing, that it is her intent to leave her nothing, and that it is her wish that the daughter not be informed of her death until after she has been buried.

Half of her will is just language ensuring that everyone knows that she is intentionally leaving that daughter nothing, and that she is not able to contest that decision.

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Miriam L
Miriam L
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It sounds like there's a very sad and painful story behind that.

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#32

A friend of mine was adopted at birth. When her mom died, the will gave half the estate to her 'two natural daughters'. My friend got nothing.

Wtf

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#33

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Lots of people sending their friends and family on weird errands to spread their ashes (leaving money for people to take trips and spread their ashes around the world).

Pet trusts are a fun one: leaving a whole whack of money in a trust to be used for the care of the pet during their life.

However, my favourite ever (that I obviously didn’t draft) was a lawyer who left the bulk of his estate (millions in today’s dollars) to whatever Toronto-area woman had the most children at a specific date some years in the future. I recall the winner had 10.

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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find it kind, helping a family of so many by giving them financial support

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#34

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My grandfather saved his kidney stone so that he could leave it to my cousin. They never really got along.

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#35

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Not a lawyer but my mom put in her will that if she dies under suspicious circumstances that my sister and I won’t be left anything. She watches a lot of true crime.

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#36

"No, ma'am, in order to bequeath something, you actually have to own it."

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#37

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will We had a client who was a widowed farmer who owned several heavy equipment (Caterpillar trucks, etc). He had two sons who were already working with him at the farm and a daughter who was working in the city. He willed the heavy equipment to the daughter, when asked why since these equipment were essential to the farm. He said that the farm was to go his kids equally but his girl needed to know he always wanted her to join their venture and dispel her notions of alienation because she was a girl.

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Jessica Bertram
Jessica Bertram
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i don't necessarily like this. as well-intentioned as it seems, he is questioning his daughter's career choice and essentially forcing her to engage in the family farming business, when perhaps that's the last thing she wanted.

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#38

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Saw this answer from a similar question some time ago. When a dad died he set up financial installments so long as his daughter remains under a certain weight. Dude was controlling her diet from the grave.

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Miriam L
Miriam L
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hope that's not legally enforceable, and I feel almost as bad for the person responsible for distributing the money and ensuring the clause is met as I do the daughter. That poor, poor woman

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#39

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My vindictive grandmother left my aunt $20 as a reminder of the $20 my aunt stole from her once.

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#40

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will Not a lawyer, but an estate planning paralegal for many years. I've read, drafted or executed thousands of wills and trusts with clients. My first nitpicky comment is that the common belief that lawyers actually assemble the whole family and hold a "reading of the will" is entirely a construct of TV. You would never sit there and just read a will to people; it's mostly a bunch of legalese about bonds and payment of taxes and the powers of the executor. Only a very small portion of the will actually pertains to distributions, and in many cases it's just a paragraph stating that everything goes to the spouse if living, otherwise equally to the kids (or to the trust, which then says it all goes to spouse-then-kids.)

Believe it or not, they're usually pretty mundane. When strings are attached, it's usually just parents trying to make sure their kids go to college or they get a smaller distribution, or just have to wait longer to get their money. People who don't have kids usually name about 2 dozen beneficiaries, which is cumbersome and annoying, especially since a lot of times they don't even have much money to divide. People with kids almost always just leave the money to them equally.

Probably the most f**ked-up thing I've seen is a couple different clients who included provisions to disinherit kids and grandkids if they married a black person. That's their prerogative, and we'll serve them professionally, but we tended not to get too cozy or chatty at those signings, unlike with many of the nice clients with whom we would become friendly. Just get 'em in, get 'em out in those cases.

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#41

I (early 20s) was forced to write a will due to the health insurance i get at work, and, amongst sensible stuff, the in-house lawyer said it was totally okay for this clause to be added:

"My funeral wishes are that i be buried in a coffin which has been springloaded, such that opening the coffin would cause alarm to future archeologists"

Then a bunch of stuff about if this is to costly i'd be cremated and have my ashes scattered in a specific place.

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Kate
Kate
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As an archaeology major, I'm a little disappointed that I won't be around in a few hundred years to dig you up.

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#42

A relative worked for a firm preparing wills and was confronted by an Executor who had an edict to “scatter the deceased’s ashes from a microlight aircraft”. He couldn’t fly one.

She kindly pointed out to him that the drafting said nothing about whether said microlight was in flight at the time of scattering.

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Oopsydaisy
Oopsydaisy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also, he didn't have to do it, unless a bequest was tied to it. It's all very well to honour the deads wishes, but maybe the dead should have been a bit more reasonable.

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#43

When I was a clerk in law school at the state court of appeals the adult children of a rich woman tried to invalidate the will. Basically the woman was worth about 8 million dollars and all the children were working professionals earning 6 or 7 figures. Well the woman had used the same hair dresser for multiple years and left a considerable amount in a trust for the hair dresser's children's education. The remainder of the estate was given to different charities. Basically the kids were mad they didn't get a cut.

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#44

I research land and often go through wills to determine ownership of property.

“To my wife I leave a length of rope long enough to hang herself.”

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#45

I’m the executor of my grandmother’s will. I also get the house and everything in it and a share of life insurance that’s split three ways between myself, sister, and mom. My mom has always said that all my dad , my grandmothers son-in-law, would like to have is some table. Well in the will there’s like a whole paragraph that states how my dad gets nothing, he doesn’t lay a finger on any thing in the house or any money. How my dad is basically worthless and deserves nothing and how he was a [lousy] dad and that she begrudgingly has my mom in the will. Thanks grandma I’ll appreciate the awkwardness.

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NsG
NsG
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Once it becomes your property, leave it a few months and then gift it to your dad. Wills don't get to say what happens in perpetuity (trust fund money excepted).

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#46

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will I used to work for an accountant and we used to make wills as well.

An old man probably around 70 left all his money to his mistress while his wife only got the gold fish.

I had to tell him that if his wife contested it she would most definitely win, he said he didn't care.

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#47

40 Lawyers Share The Most Surprising Requests They’ve Ever Seen In Someone’s Will My sister’s mother in-law is leaving her house to her three sons. If one wants to sell out his third of the house, he has to sell it to the other two brothers for $1.

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Miriam L
Miriam L
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

... That sounds questionable. What's her plan, that they co-own the house and pass it down to each generation of cousins until the people owning it are barely related? I'm sure there's actually a story behind this, something about the family memories and keeping a gathering place together. It's not my intent to call the mother in law dumb. It's just that this could go so many ways, and it really depends on whether the men are on board with whatever the intent and goal was. Otherwise, as other similar stories have shown, this could end up breaking the family apart

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#48

So this is related. Worked on a divorce up a couple who fought over every single thing in the house. Separating pillows and such. They were left 52 gallons of vanilla extract by her grandmother. In a secondary preceding he was awarded all but 5 gallons. Two weeks later he sent in a case of "samples" in zip lock baggies to our office along with a request to subpoena a urine test from his ex-wife to prove she pissed in the jugs before he picked them up. We never needed to as she screamed in court that she, "pissed them full just like he pissed all over her during their marriage." They were neat. This same couple went to court for nearly two years over a beanie baby collection. They had three kids.

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Sheila Stamey
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm not even questioning the pee, but 52 GALLONS of vanilla extract? That place must have smelled like the Pillsbury doughboy's b******e!

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#49

It went something like this:

"Frank, if your fat monkey heart is still beating, then congratulations. I want you to know that I hereby leave all of your money to Bruce Mathis, the real father of my children. A handsome man with a beautiful soul and a nicer penis. For my darling son Dennis, I give you my house on the sole condition that Frank is not be allowed in. Deandra you get nothing."

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#50

My great-uncle's official will gave the contents of his outhouse to the City Council of a nearby town after they'd tried to take his land twice to build a new water treatment plant. He spent quite a few years fighting eminent domain claims, and just wanted to give them something in return. As a joke, his kids boxed up all the books and magazines in the outhouse and dropped them off at City Hall.

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Klas Klättermus
Klas Klättermus
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

His kids totaly failed their father. He obviously wanted to donate his poo to the criminals in the government

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#51

I am a qualified solicitor, my favourite two are:

A lady wanted to create a trust fund of £100,000, for her pet fish. When I asked if it was a special kind of fish, she confirmed it was just a normal goldfish but she wanted it to be fed fresh avocado every day and be looked after by a local dog walker after she died. She was absolutely serious.

Another lady confessed she had a secret daughter, and she wanted to leave the daughter some money and photographs without the rest of her family finding out. Even her husband does not know. That will be a fun conversation when she passes away.

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#52

Not really the question but related:

A lawyer once advised my 90 years old aunt to adopt me (24 at the time) to avoid paying inheritance tax. Now I'm not a big fan of tax avoidance... but her last name is "Falcon" in my language which is immensely cooler than my current surname. Almost would've done it.

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Leodavinci
Leodavinci
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tax evasion is the problem, not avoidance. No one is obligated (legally, morally, or ethically) to pay more than tax law says they are supposed to.

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#53

Not a lawyer, but I work at a law firm. One client left $100,000.00 to his two cats so they could "maintain their current lifestyle".

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#54

Here’s one from one of my dad’s law partners. He had a lady come in with an itemized list of books and wanted her will to contain all of the books and who will get what based on her choosing. So basically she decides who gets what specific book instead of letting her beneficiaries decide. The truly astonishing thing is how many books and how specific they get. According to dad’s law partner her list is at about 2,000 books to be divided among about 30 people. She is apparently very specific and comes back at least once a year to add all the new books she’s gotten.

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Who Panda 420
Who Panda 420
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is kind of cool instead of bequeathing money she's actually bequeathing knowledge.

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#55

Me and a friend from middle school have an agreement that he gets 10 bucks out of my estate

I also want all beneficiaries notified by a mysterious man in a dark suit preferably on a dark rainy day.

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#56

My old landlord took 2 years to boot me out because her mother who owned the place died and she wanted to sell the place. But her mothers carer said the mother verbally promised the house to her. Even though it was not written in the will it still took 2 years of fighting in court to clear things up. No, the carer didn't get it in the end even after all the appeals.

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Auntriarch
Auntriarch
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And a verbal promise isn't worth the paper it's printed on....

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#57

Had a friend who had a toxic relationship with his uncle. When his uncle passed he was surprised to find he was in the will. Turns out there was a handwritten IOU that read “I’m leaving you 15k BUT you have to come get it from me. I’ll see you in hell!” My friend laughed.

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#58

My own grandmother specified which of the children and grandchildren should get which of the family recipes, and somehow felt the need to include commentary about why certain decisions were made. One recipe was this Prohibition era recipe for beer which I knew my uncle, also a home brewer, wanted, but she left it to me, with the comment that "I know you wanted it, Teddy, but she has the second-best penmanship of the girls and will make you a copy."

And then like eight pages later, in among the specific descriptions of her vast collection of romance novels (really,) was a line: "And [specific Jude Devereaux title] to Spidey, who will please subtract about half the hops before she copies the beer recipe for her Uncle Teddy so that any of us can drink it. Our Jon had his IPA last summer and just about died."

Uncle Jon just about burst into tears laughing and Uncle Teddy had long since left the room because he has no f**s whatsoever to give about romance novels. Uncle Jon, of course, was still in the room because there was also still Yuengling.

And no, I have no idea how she got this will done. My guess is she wrote it herself and the law students who come to her independent-living building signed off on it. It was...elaborate, that's for sure. Total value of the estate was well under eight thousand dollars, so it was mostly a funny last letter from Grandma.

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Bobby
Bobby
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Honestly, I think this is the best way to do it, make it a final happy memory. Some good natured teasing, letting everyone know the care you put in choosing who got what... I love it

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#59

I work in probate. The oddest thing I’ve seen in a will is to euthanize their beloved horse, have it cremated and it’s ashes scattered with the decedent. Lucky for her horse, she named a horse that was already dead so the one she got afterwards lived to see another farm.

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Samantha Lomb
Samantha Lomb
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn't as wierd as it sounds. My mom has in her will the horses will be put to sleep as well. The youngest is 20 and several have health problems and she is terrified old horses will neglected or abused after her instructor dumped a 30 year old horse on us that got confused in his new surroundings panicked, got down and died scared and alone.

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#60

Random question, could i just pick a random name in the phone book and add them to my will? It would be funny to have part of my will portioned out with odd requests for random strangers.

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Oopsydaisy
Oopsydaisy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Been done.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jan/16/gilestremlett.mainsection

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#61

Worked with a client who wanted language that her cats would be euthanized and buried with her. We had to explain why legally we couldn’t do that. The moral part just went over her head. One of the few clients who ever got under my skin.

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meowgie catster
meowgie catster
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can get it if the cats were old and it was an old person nearing the end of their life, and didn’t want the cats to die confused and alone, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here

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#62

My estate planning professor told us about a guy who had two families, neither of which knew about the other until it was time to read the will. This wasn't like a love child/mistress type scenario, both were nuclear multi-kid families. Both families showed up for what had to be one of the most awkward will reading in history.

I don't really know how he pulled it off other than that he was away on "business" frequently.

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Kanuli
Kanuli
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sounds weird. Like no bite marks ever? No slip of tongue? No irregularities at bank account or papers? Weird. Also how did he have so much energy? I have just enough for 1 wife.

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#63

Oh dear, my first "not me but a friend post."

Someone had left an entire golf course that he owned and managed in secret to his son. They were avid golfers, but always went to another course. I still don't know why someone would lie about owning a golf course.

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WilvanderHeijden
WilvanderHeijden
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To avoid being harassed by family and friends to let them use the course for free so they could rack up enormous bills and pester the staff because "They know the owner."

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#64

My friends mother had in her will “that cat gets to live in my house alone until it expires” the cat lived there for a few years alone with a caregiver checking on it. Yes she was rich.

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Demi Zwaan
Demi Zwaan
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's just sad. The cat's not going to be happy or grateful for living there alone. It wants attention, love, pets!

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#65

Well, my father's an attorney...not an estate attorney. But anyway. In my boyfriend's living will, he has instructions that his ashes be shot out of a cannon.

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#66

Had a very attractive woman with terminal cancer try to get herself stuffed by a taxidermist and given to some rich guy that had been basically a sugar daddy to her for a few months. She said "He would give me a million dollar a week allowance as long as it was in an official will that he could see." I sent her to a lawyer who I knew that would do about anything for a buck because I didn't want to end up in the news when she died. That was 2 years ago, no clue what happened to her.

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#67

I had a Russian client. Son of an oligarch. His father created a trust which provided dispositive provisions for if he was kidnapped and not found within a certain number of months. Freaked me out. I believe the will had similar language too, but I can’t remember now.

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#68

I once had to tell the son of the deceased that his mother's priceless "Boy with Apple" painting was willed to a hotel concierge.

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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ummmm this painting is worthless and a made up one at that featured in the movie grand Budapest hotel as a made up fictional priceless painting ... painted in 2014

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#69

I know you're looking for lawyers and whatnot, but here, have my mediocre will story anyway:

My great grandmother left her daughter "just one dollar and not a single penny more so help me god." This was before I was born, but my grandmother (not the daughter with the dollar) said that when they all read the will her sister had a full blown temper tantrum and no one heard from her since. I guess she had it coming.

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WilvanderHeijden
WilvanderHeijden
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the Netherlands you can't completely disinherit a child. You always have to give them their "legitimate portion" of the inheritance. It is a percentage of the inheritance depending on the number of children. But on the plus side: no one is legally obliged to inform estranged children that their parent has died.

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#70

I was working as a legal secretary and had to leave someones cats to various people (fine) but I also had to leave money in the cats' name to various organizations. One of them was named Mr. Bobo. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

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Who Panda 420
Who Panda 420
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I mr Bobo leave $100k to the society for the prevention of catnip addiction

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#71

One summer I worked as an administrative assistant to a lawyer who worked in wills and estates.

Most of it was the usual petty arguing about percentages of money, but one couple was deeply concerned about which of their children would receive the urn with the ashes of the family's long deceased cat. "Wouldn't want to play favorites."

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#72

I had the first son so my dad decided to leave me more. Except he did the math wrong and it came out to 105%. He had dementia.

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Kanuli
Kanuli
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hate this first son thing. My brother is the first. And he always got bigger presents from my grandma, more attention and help in general. Also some money when a life insurance cashed out. (I got nothing, anyway). But who calls her regularly? Who understands her and partly lives her values? It doesn’t matter just because I was born 2 years later... But it’s fine. I earn my own money and my family in general was always quite broke, so I never expected anything to begin with.

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#73

Not me but my friend's father's father died and he said when the guy reviewed the will with his lawyer (and his sister) it said to give 100% of the assets to his sister.

He said he had no idea why his father did that, he wasn't on bad terms or anything. It was shocking to him. The sister didn't share anything with him either, and they were on pretty good terms (before that).

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Rijkærd
Rijkærd
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So...friend's father's father huh? Or just simply your friends grandpa?? I'd take a wild guess and say the guy wasn't his biological son....

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#74

"Not a lawyer" but I worked with plenty of estates and trust accounts over the years. This particular scenario isn't so much about the will itself being strange, but the circumstances that led up to the trust account being opened:

I used to work at a bank in the estates department. I was an administrator who had to manage the files including encroachments upon the capital (i.e. "I want to take some money out now, please").

I had this one account - multi-million dollar trust for one single beneficiary - the son of the deceased. What's interesting is that the son killed the parents... with a hammer in grotesque and brutal fashion. He plead insanity.

He would call once a year from the penitentiary / mental hospital, requesting $50 for commissary (to buy chips and gum). The call was always strange. He was very polite, very doped up. The quality of the call was always very "tinny" like he was far away from the phone.

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WilvanderHeijden
WilvanderHeijden
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't there an American law that says that you can't profit from your crime? So killing someone would immediately cut you out of their will.

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#75

Lady wanted her small dog to be buried with her. If the dog happened to be alive when the lady passed, she wanted the dog put down and then join her.

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Who Panda 420
Who Panda 420
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just commented above. I have a crazy roommate that asked us to do this. We said sure but no intention of really killing her dog. Rest assured if anything happens to her we will take excellent care of her dog.

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#76

Saw someones mom's will get read to them. Her ex-lover got all of her money and she gave her mansion to her son and gave her daughter nothing and said she was a disappointment and a mistake. The kicker was though the kids were twins

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#77

i got some rock my grandpa really liked

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Rijkærd
Rijkærd
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

...maybe others got some paper and scissors...be glad you got something.

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#78

In my Mums will, which I have seen, she has left me the kitchen table and chairs.

She lives on a South Manchester council estate.

My brother gets the sideboard.

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Donkey boi
Donkey boi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Didn't Brian May allegedly have a guitar made from his kitchen sideboard?

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#79

Not a lawyer, work for a will writers / trusts specialist in the UK, currently studying toward my TEP.

One of our earlier clients passed recently. Turns out the man she left almost everything to, including the residue of her estate--which was considerable--was her regular taxi driver. She had also named him as her executor. He had no clue.

The woman named as her executor and main beneficiary on her previous two wills, a close friend of many years, was understandably flabbergasted and contested the will.

We responded to her solicitor's Larke v Nugus request, informed Mr Taxi Driver (who didn't even know our client had passed) and the will was upheld. Aforementioned friend was left a legacy of £5000 if I remember correctly, but her nose was clearly out of joint.

Bonus observation: it takes a lot less than £5000 being up for grabs to make families turn against each other. Can get really nasty. One of the most startling things I've learned in my short time in this business.

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#80

Not a lawyer (yet), but one interesting case in inheritance law that I came across was the one of a super rich owner of a private bank, who left his shares to his sons under the condition and restraint that they will act as managers of the private bank, but with a personal liability concerning the bank's debt. So what he did was giving them the money and commit them to lifelong work in the bank, while putting their own assets at risk. So when one of the sons decided to sell his shares because he was old and sick, the courts had to decide whether he gets any money from the will - the condition was NOT fulfilled anymore as he gave up the manager position. One other son wanted to sell his shares, of course that would not have been allowed under the condition either.

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#81

I don't remember enough of the story but there was a guy in the 1800s that left his estate to his great grand children because he didn't want his actual children to benefit at all. I think they only recently received the money.

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Rijkærd
Rijkærd
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Imagine receiving mail from the 1800s that says you have been given like a million $$ by great grandpa in this f****d up economic times....

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#82

My father in law was an accountant for some rather wealthy people. One of them was asking him to assist with writing up his will worth millions. The final addition he suggested was that if the children contested it, they get nothing.

They contested it, for years!

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WilvanderHeijden
WilvanderHeijden
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How can you contest a will for years when the will says that you lose all your rights when you contest it.

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#83

An ancestor of mine in the rural UK in the 1700s died and left his farm and everything to his nephew (no children), with his surviving wife only getting "the second best bed" and a provision her to receive 3lbs of butter per week for the rest of her life. We thought this was incredibly mean, but we wonder whether this butter was meant as an income, I mean who can eat 3lbs of butter?!

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Auntriarch
Auntriarch
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Probably yes to the butter. Clothing used to be bequeathed because it was expensive, so even second hand had value that we wouldn't expect today

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#84

Client wanted her ashes spread at the restaurant (on the beach) where she met her husband.

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ADHORTATOR
ADHORTATOR
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My father in law wanted his ashes spread in his garden, and so did we

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#85

Not a lawyer but my grandmother’s will stated that my father had to outlive her by a certain amount of time (I honestly don’t remember exactly how long, I was 15). My father died less than a month after she did, so instead of things going to my father the next step was the estate being divided between me, my sister, and two cousins. It was so bizarre!

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Oopsydaisy
Oopsydaisy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's a standard clause in a will. The beneficiary/ies have to survive for 30 days after the death of the testator.

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#86

Not a Lawyer, but helped drive a dear elderly friend of mine to his appointments to have his will redone after his wife died.
He was a member of a VFW, that was very badly mismanaged, to the point they were coming to him to bail them out of debt for thousands every other month. At the same time this was happening, the commander of that VFW had his wife begging to 'borrow' money for their personal account as well.
He tried to have it put in his will that while he had planned on leaving the majority of his money to the VFW, he could not in good faith leave the money, knowing it would be so badly mismanaged, and probably used to offset the addictions of people in charge.
Attorney would not allow that, but he did agree to hold a letter with the man's explanation for after his death.
I am assuming the attorney did send it, because I know the commander and his awful wife have been stirring up trouble with the man's family, trying to have his will contested.

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#87

When my great grandad died in his will he stated that his coin collection be split equally across his family. There was like 8-9 of us and 3 potato sacks full of coins. So we all gathered round a table and each took one coin each until nothing was left. Among the coins was an Iron Cross, which was quiet odd as the only person on that side of the family that went to war was his dad, and he served with the ANZAC’s in WW1.

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Rijkærd
Rijkærd
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

3 potato sacks?? Am probably thinking you're still gathered around the table??

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#88

Lawyer here. I once amended a will for a doctor in which he disinherited his son by removing everything he had intended to bequeath and replacing it with a "manure spreader". I didn't ask any questions because changing a will is an easy thing to do. But one day, that doctor will die and his son will have essentially be told to "eat s**t".

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#89

I once wrote a will for a guy who thought he could get away from giving his ex-wife half his assets by putting them in a will for his kids. Doesn’t work like that, buddy boy.

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Leodavinci
Leodavinci
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Since when do ex spouses have to receive anything? Wouldn't they have already gotten their half of "community" property when they divorced?

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#90

We had a client itemize his rock collection in his wil

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#91

A furby collection from models collected in the late 90’s. They were convinced they would retain future value.

This was 2011.

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Oopsydaisy
Oopsydaisy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hahaha. That's why you see heaps of, for instance, spoon collections and doll collections in op shops (as we call them in Australia. Otherwise known as thrift or charity shops).

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#92

A lot of people want there ashes spread at Disneyland

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#93

My moms father left her and her 3 sisters one dollar out of spite. ONE DOLLAR. Just don't leave anything you f**ing d**k.

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Bobby
Bobby
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one probably goes back to the "leave them something so they can't contest they were left out by mistake" philosophy

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