# Odd Will Clauses **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 15, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218 "2012-06-15T10:06:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/21 "2012-06-15T19:47:57Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Well, one might as well make it as entertaining as possible. I’m considering adding a clause requiring that a certain locked box be burned, unopened, and the ashes mixed with salt and scattered at a particular set of coordinates. Kind of a Monty Hall deal? Open the box and take what you get, or take a chance and burn it to open curtain #2? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/22 "2012-06-15T20:10:33Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Kind of a Monty Hall deal? Open the box and take what you get, or take a chance and burn it to open curtain #2? More like “Congratulations, you’ve arrived at either the beginning or the end of a Lovecraftian horror story. What you do with the [Sealed Evil in a Can](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SealedEvilInACan) determines which it is.” ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/23 "2012-06-15T20:42:35Z")
As I have said many times and to anyone who will listen; upon my death my heirs are bound to reclaim my corpse from whoever killed me and bring it back to my homeland. my corpse and my weapons and armor shall be placed upon a ship, then that ship shall be set aflame and pushed into the sea. Everyone at the funeral shall take part in a mêlée and the winner shall claim all my treasure. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/24 "2012-06-15T20:56:34Z")
I have a friend who swears I will be mentioned in her will. She swears the mention will be “Hi Rick” ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/25 "2012-06-15T21:06:45Z")
There was a wealthy man in Spain a couple of years ago who left half his fortune (€30 million) to charity and the other half to Prince Felipe. Who he had never met and who hadn’t a clue who he was. Nothing to his own family or friends, but hey, the heir to a $1.7 billion throne needs more money. I think the inheritance was investigated and found to be legitimate, at which point Felipe did the decent thing and donated it all, but very odd. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/26 "2012-06-15T21:16:37Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Follow-up questions: > > Was it a “every female in the family has the next 20 years to birth as many children as possible, winner gets this set of extremely fancy steak knives”, was it “whoever birthed the most babies in the last 20 years gets these steak knives” or was it one of the above, but opened up to anyone on the planet? That could get interesting… I think it was every woman within a certain area, with the time starting shortly after his death and stopping however-many years later. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/27 "2012-06-15T21:27:59Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I also think that more or less cutting the family off by donating more than a small percentage should be illegal also. I don’t agree. I don’t believe anyone should be coerced, and it sounds like the lawyer you mentioned may have influenced the man, but otherwise, it’s his money and he gets to choose. If I want to leave 10% to the family and 90% to charities and my dog, it’s my decision because it was my money. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/28 "2012-06-15T21:39:36Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#): > > I have a relative who left me something in his will, with the provision that I sell it and donate the money to his church. Needless to say, I am strongly morally opposed to giving the money to a church, especially this particular church. > > Is there anything stopping me from just keeping the money, or doing something else with it? I would never actually keep the money myself, but what about donating it to an actual worthy charity? Unless the executor is going to follow you around and make sure it gets done, I don’t think there is any legal requirement you do as your dead relative says. Especially when it sounds like dead relative is sticking you with the tax liability. On the other hand, if you think the executor (or the family) is going to be a huge dick about it, just leave that amount of money to the church in \*your \*will. After all, dead relative didn’t say \*when \*you had to pass along the money, right? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/29 "2012-06-15T22:00:20Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Huh? The guy is in very,very real danger of outliving his money. > At,say, age 86, he could easily have medical problems requiring moving to an old-age home with a full-time caregiver,which could cost a quarter-million or half-million dollars. > And I doubt that the management of the nursing home will accept a post-dated check for 4 years later. > > The guy who wrote the will should set a more reasonable age limit…say, 75 or 80. Couldn’t this guy just borrow against his inheritance, if he needed the money badly? ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/30 "2012-06-16T01:16:01Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Couldn’t this guy just borrow against his inheritance, if he needed the money badly? Who would make him a loan with those terms? If he doesn’t live to 90 he doesn’t ever inherit the money and the bank now has a dead client without sufficient assets to pay back the loan. Risky. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/31 "2012-06-16T01:41:00Z")
I was going to mention having to spend a night in a haunted house, but I’m told it’s a standard clause. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/32 "2012-06-16T03:15:16Z")
I know of an odd one. About 15 years ago I was chatting with a guy who owned a pizza parlor over in the Southwest area of Fort Worth, and he happened to mention that he was a student at TCU. Now, this guy was mid-60s if he was a day, so I told him that it was awfully cool that he was going “back to school” and he explained that he had never left school. Ever. Apparently, he had a very wealthy great-aunt, and 50 years before, she had bequeathed to him an annual stipend (which was quite generous, $20,000 or so) in addition to all tuition, books, and room & board, paid by the estate, until he finished college. No limit was placed on how long he could take to finish his degree, as long as he carried a full course load. Well, the wording of the bequest was such that it made more sense for him to NOT graduate, because he liked having the extra money. So over the 40+ years that he had been a full-time student (!!!) he’d accumulated enough credits to graduate with nearly every degree that TCU offered! He mentioned that he was particularly interested in history and literature, but he’d studied computer science, accounting, marketing, business, and music over the years also. Apparently his great-aunt’s estate had long been distributed (everything but the neverending college bequest for her great-nephew) and was to be liquidated and the rest donated to a church organization when he was finally done with school. Or dead. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/33 "2012-06-16T05:07:03Z")
What about these cases where a rich eccentric leaves an estate to dogs, cats, other pets? usually, the remainder goes to somebody when the last dog/cat/gerbil/whatever passes on-there must be some incentive to “hurry things up”. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/34 "2012-06-16T09:17:39Z")
> [@Sarabellum1976](#): > > Apparently, he had a very wealthy great-aunt, and 50 years before, she had bequeathed to him an annual stipend (which was quite generous, $20,000 or so) in addition to all tuition, books, and room & board, paid by the estate, until he finished college. No limit was placed on how long he could take to finish his degree, as long as he carried a full course load. Not knowing your friend, I won’t say that that story is untrue, but it’s remarkably similar to that of the main character from [a Roger Zelazny novel.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorways_in_the_Sand) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/35 "2012-06-17T19:40:29Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I know the family of a guy I went to school with that the grandfather donated everything to a university and pretty much cut the family off with not much more than a nominal amount of money and the land and household stuff. Oddly enough, the university named a dorm and one other building after the family, and it seems that the school’s lawyer was so very helpful when the guy wanted to make his will a few years before he died:dubious: Why the :dubious: ? the lawyer was working for the university, and someone asked for help in making a donation to the university. It’s the lawyer’s job to be helpful and assist. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218/36 "2012-06-17T20:10:54Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#): > > I have a relative who left me something in his will, with the provision that I sell it and donate the money to his church. Needless to say, I am strongly morally opposed to giving the money to a church, especially this particular church. > > Is there anything stopping me from just keeping the money, or doing something else with it? I would never actually keep the money myself, but what about donating it to an actual worthy charity? I’m not a lawyer but when I was writing my will I remember the attorney explaining that this kind of clause is not valid. It was something like the person can’t demand what people do with the objects/money/etc. because once the item is given then it’s not under the control of the estate any longer. There’s some legal term for this that I can’t remember. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-will-clauses/625218.md?page=1)