Making a Will is a vital step in ensuring that after your death, your wishes are followed. A Will is a serious document – your last word on what happens when you are gone – but for some people their Will has been an opportunity to leave some unusual bequests:
“Second Best Bed”
William Shakespeare – died in 1616 aged just 52. By his Will he left his wife, Anne Hathaway, the “second best bed” with the majority of his Estate passing to his eldest daughter Susanna. The rumour was that he had written his last Will after a particularly heavy drinking binge with the result that his wife Anne was largely left out of the document.
Roses
Jack Benny – when the comedian, actor and radio and television personality died in 1974 he had been married to his wife Mary Livingstone for 47 years. His Will provided that she was to receive a rose every single day for the rest of her life. For the following 9 years, until her own death, Mary did indeed receive a single rose each day.
Message from beyond the grave
Harry Houdini –the famous escape artist believed that there was a way for the dead to contact the living and promised his wife he would find it. Leaving her a coded message “Rosabelle believe” so that she would know it was him when contact was made he left a Will asking that a séance be held each year on the anniversary of his death. Three years after his death the secret message was revealed but Houdini’s wife Bess declared it a hoax. She continued to hold the séance for 10 years after he died but then stopped, saying that a decade was “long enough to wait for any man.”
Bracelets
Napoleon – in his Will Napoleon directed that his personal valet should “preserve my hair, and cause a bracelet to be made of it, with a little gold clasp, to be sent to the Empress Maria Louisa” as well as a number of relatives.
Birthday
Robert Louis Stevenson – the prolific writer travelled extensively during his lifetime but made many lifelong friends. Among them was Annie Ide whose birthday was on Christmas Day. She often complained to Stevenson that this meant she could not properly celebrate her birthday as everyone was celebrating Christmas. In his Will he bequeathed Annie Ide his own birthday, 13 November, “to have, hold and enjoy the same in the customary manner”.
Clean Shave
Henry Budd – hated moustaches so much that he provided in his Will that should his son ever grow a moustache, his inheritance would fail. His Will set out the clause
“In case my son Edward shall wear moustaches, then the devise herein before contained in favour of him, his appointees, heirs, and assigns, of my said estate called ‘Pepper Park’, shall be void.”
Proof of Life
Norman Ernest Digweed – in 1897 the Will of Norman Ernest Digweed left the sum of £26,000 in trust for a period of 80 years. The Trust was stated to be for the benefit of Jesus Christ but no payment was to be made unless he could prove his identity to the Executors of the Estate.
Losing your head
John Reed – after working as a stagehand all of his life, John “Pop” Reed bequeathed his skull to the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. His Will decreed:
“My head to be separated from my body immediately after my death; the latter to be buried in a grave; the former, duly macerated and prepared, to be brought to the theatre, where I have served all my life, and to be employed to represent the skull of Yorick—and to this end I bequeath my head to the properties.”
A new husband
Heinrich “Henry” Heine – in 1856 Henry Heine left his entire estate to his wife Matilda on the strict condition that she remarry so that “there will be at least one man to regret my death”
Strangers
Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral da Camara – this Portuguese aristocrat left his entire estate to 70 strangers chosen at random from a telephone directory.
A Long Wait
Wellington Burt – on the death of Wellington Burt in 1919 his substantial estate was left to his descendants but on condition that no-one could inherit until 21 years after the death of the last of his surviving grandchildren. In 2011 when the last of the grandchildren died the Estate was valued at $110 million and was shared between his grandchildren’s grandchildren.
Leaving a strange bequest in a Will may hold an appeal to those with an axe to grind or a sense of mischief but it could cost your beneficiaries dearly it if leads to a challenge as to the validity of the Will itself or questions about your testamentary capacity.
The seriousness of a Will should not be underestimated and although it can seem like a saving to make a Will yourself or download an instruction pack and “just fill it in” that short term gain can have long term costs for those you leave behind.
If you are making a Will – whether you are going to leave some odd bequests or not – it is always sensible to take proper legal advice in the hope that you can avoid a dispute arising later on. If a dispute does arise, early expert advice is also key to keeping costs from spiralling out of control.
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