# Could you leave your money to \*nobody\* in your will? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600 "2009-09-26T01:24:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bisected8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Bisected8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bisected8)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/41 "2009-09-29T07:48:10Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > Those uses consume so little gold that if we suddenly stopped hoarding it, there’d be enough to make bullets. Enough to make _how many_ bullets? A few cm^2 could make a couple of bullets after all. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/42 "2009-09-29T13:29:54Z")
> [@Otanx](#): > > How about leaving it in a trust for something that will either happen far into the future after almost everyone has forgotten about it, or just will never happen? For the first one setup a trust that pays to the first person to be born on Pluto who must then fill out a form in Hebrew to apply for the trust. As for the second option a trust that pays to the first person that is able to free dive to the bottom of the Marianas Trench for 10 minutes, and while there fill out a form in Hebrew to apply for the trust. > > Would the courts throw out the second one, but the first one isn’t because it is possible? Would they both be thrown out? > > -Otanx IANAL, but I imagine the judge would look at the terms and make a judgement call as to whether the trust was serious or merely an attempt to get around the rule of perpetuities (ooh, I love throwing around lawyer phrases). If it’s clearly (in the judge’s opinion + any appeals court’s opinion if it gets that far) an attempt to create a perpetual will, the judge will toss it. I’m less sure but I think additionally, the trust might need to have some kind of beneficial social purpose. This is usually interpreted pretty broadly, but is another way a judge could throw out the trust. ---
**Author:** ![retsin2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@retsin2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retsin2000)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/43 "2009-09-29T13:36:06Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Why would he be bad at math? That’s the original amount doled out in the joke. Because the priest and the doctor took a total of $30k out of the envelopes already. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/44 "2009-09-29T14:07:46Z")
> [@retsin2000](#): > > Because the priest and the doctor took a total of $30k out of the envelopes already. The lawyer doesn’t know that until later. Thus the cheque must be for $90,000. Actually, what I wrote is a different ending to the joke - and doesn’t include the lead-in about the removal of the money by the doctor and priest. It doesn’t need it, and the joke won’t work as well if you tell it that way. I first heard it told in roughly this form by the Irish commedian Dave Allen, about 35 years ago. The old ones are the good ones. I guess it needs laying out for some readers. \*An old miser is lying on his deathbed and thinking, “Who says you can’t take it with you?” He calls in three trusted men: his doctor, his lawyer, and his priest. He gives them each an envelope with $30,000 cash in it and instructs them to throw it in with his casket at the funeral, so he can spend eternity with his money. The man dies and at the funeral, the three are standing by the casket. First the priest throws his envelope in. Then the doctor follows with his envelope. They both look expectantly at the lawyer. The lawyer, walks up the the casket and takes both envelopes out of the casket. He then throws his envelope in and pockets the others. “Hey, what…”, cries the priest. “What are you playing at?” demands the doctor. “Its OK,” says the lawyer, “there is a cheque for $90,000 in my envelope.”\* Boom boom. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/45 "2009-09-29T15:33:25Z")
Gotta disagree **Francis** , I like my version better because it gives the lawyer a way to take the moral high ground over the other two in a really hypocritical way. In your version, he’s just being a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/46 "2009-09-29T15:39:06Z")
Nah, Rigamarole’s version is much better. It’s a better lead-up full of moral quandries, misleading turns, self-righteousness, and straight-faced delusion. Great joke. Yours, of course, has the benefit of brevity. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/47 "2009-09-29T16:33:07Z")
Only an idiotic lawyer would put a real check in the envelope. A grave digger could still cash it. A smart lawyer puts in an IOU slip, payable in person. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/48 "2009-09-29T17:32:59Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > HA no it doesn’t. Gold is (almost) useless, and burying it at sea is no better than burning your “fiat money.” But you’re onto a good point. Gold is _incredibly_ useful electrically. It is a very good conductor, and it doesn’t corrode easily, making it a great material for electrical contacts. The reason it’s not used more often is that it’s so expensive due to great scarcity (not because of hoarding, because there really isn’t much of it on the planet). It’s got some other industrial uses, too, but, again, it’s too expensive to use for most of the applications it would be good for. Destroying (or permanently losing) a bunch of gold would actually be destroying significant value. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/49 "2009-09-29T18:22:16Z")
Gold is merely a decent conductor. Better that aluminum worse than copper. It is used in circuits mostly because it does not corrode. In those applications a very very small amount is used is plated onto a cheaper metal. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/50 "2009-09-30T00:16:58Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Gold is _incredibly_ useful electrically. It is a very good conductor, and it doesn’t corrode easily, making it a great material for electrical contacts. The reason it’s not used more often is that it’s so expensive due to great scarcity (not because of hoarding, because there really isn’t much of it on the planet). It’s got some other industrial uses, too, but, again, it’s too expensive to use for most of the applications it would be good for. Destroying (or permanently losing) a bunch of gold would actually be destroying significant value. Gold is not “incredibly” useful in electronics. It is only used to plate contacts so that they stay clean. It costs only a few dozen cents to plate contacts with gold, and yet many cables/connectors have tin-plated contacts because it’s really not such a big deal either way. The cost of gold is linked exactly to its hoarding. > [@](#): > > Enough to make how many bullets? A few cm^2 could make a couple of bullets after all. There’s something like over 150,000 tons of it already dug up. That is on the level of the world’s 500,000 ton stockpile of depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is used to make very dense armor-penetrating projectiles. However, it is a very toxic heavy metal. If gold lost its collector’s value and the vaults filled with it were to become as warehouses filled with DU, it would be used for bullets. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600/51 "2009-09-30T03:54:45Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > Depleted uranium is used to make very dense armor-penetrating projectiles. However, it is a very toxic heavy metal. If gold lost its collector’s value and the vaults filled with it were to become as warehouses filled with DU, it would be used for bullets. No. DU has adiabatic shear and is pyrophoric. Gold has neither property, making it a poor choice for armor penetration. I spose it would do ok in normal bullets, but why switch from lead? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-leave-your-money-to-nobody-in-your-will/511600.md?page=2)