Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog

Caskets -- Recycling and Custom Built

The Selling It column of the December 2009 issue of Consumer Reports reproduces an ad from a North Carolina store that restores, repairs, refinishes, and custom builds caskets.

Here is the editor's comment:

Yup, a woodworker in North Carolina will give new life to old caskets.  No word on any exhumation fee.  (If that's not bad enough, picture being fitted for a custom-built model.)

What Some Will Do For Money

Even if this isn't a real 911-call, it does illustrate the extent to which some people will go for an extra buck, something estate planners are all too aware of. 

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

For Your Morbid Side

Estate planners may help others plan for the inevitable, but they don't make a game out of it. 

A Dead pool, also called a ghoul pool, is a game where players predict the deaths of celebrities in a given time frame and receive points for correct predictions.  At stiffs.com, players pay $15 to play, with a end-year jackpot worth as much as $3,000.

Determining whether someone qualifies as a celebrity can be a serious matter of debate.   Players wishing to add someone to the celebrity list at Stiffs.com must submit the person's name to the 30 member fame committee.  The person is added to the game's celebrity list if five members of the fame committee can identify the person.  

Not a matter of debate, however, is whether points are awarded for hastening the death of a celebrity at issue.  Even morbid games consider murder as cheating.

See Stiffs.com; see also Dead Pool, Wikipedia.  

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.

Estate Planning in the Land of Id

The November 4, 2009 Wizard of Id comic featured an estate planning theme involving a will dealing with a spouse and a pet cat.

Follow the link above for a bit of estate planning humor.

Will Leaves Home to Enemies and the Fertile

Charles Vance Miller, a Canadian Lawyer, played his ultimate prank upon his death. His will left his Jamaican vacation home jointly to three men who hated each other for a period of ten years.  After that, it was to pass to the Canadian woman who had the most children during the ten years.  The home passed jointly to four women, each of whom had nine children during the ten years.

See TruTV, Weirdest Wills.

Feng Shui Consultant Inherits Billions

Asia's richest woman, Nina Wang, was worth $4.2 billion when she died in 2007.  She left everything to her personal feng shui consultant. A prior will left everything to charity. 

See TruTV, Weirdest Wills.

Will Calls for Womanless Library

When Iowa attorney T.M. Zinkdied, his will directed that $35,000 be placed in a trust fund.  After 75 years, Zink directed that the money be used to build the Zink Womanless Library, which would contain no books written by women and each entrance would state "no women allowed."  Zink's daughter successfully challenged the will and the library was never built.  Zink left his daughter $5 in the will.

See TruTV, Weirdest Wills.

'Present but not Voting'

Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher and legal social reformer, died in 1832.  His will directed that his body be embalmed, clothed, and placed in his chair as if he was thinking. 

The preserved remains can still be viewed in a wooden cabinet display located at the University College London, although his head, which was injured during preservation, is stored separately.  Bentham's remains were present at College Council meetings commemorating the school's 100th and 150th anniversary, where Bentham was recorded as "present but not voting."

See TrueTV, Weirdest Wills.

Burial Lots: Buy One, Get One Free!

For those who have not picked out their final resting place, Memorial Park Cemetery in Indianapolis has a deal for you - buy one lot, get one free, with no credit check required. 

The cemetery said that business is fine, that this promotional is offered yearly, and that the current offer is a closeout on a particular section of the cemetery.  

See AP, Dirt Cheap: Cemetery sells 2 graves for the price of 1, Kansas City Star, June 18, 2009.   

Man Arrested for Posing as His Dead Mother

A 49-year old New York man was arrested for using a walking stick, lots of make-up, and a fake ID to impersonate his dead mother.  When his mother died in 2003, he gave the funeral director a false social security number so that he could collect $700 a month in social security benefits and $39,000 in rent subsidies in her name.  He is now facing theft, forgery, and conspiracy charges.   

A BBC article quotes the man as saying, "I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother," upon arrest.

BBC, US man 'posed as his dead mother', June 17, 2009.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.

Anna Nicole Smith: The Opera

Richard Thomas, the co-creator of Jerry Springer: The Opera, is composing a new musical entitled Anna Nicole Smith: The Opera, set to open in the Royal Opera House in 2010.  Thomas admits he is fascinated by trashy sounding stories.  Classical opera fans feel that an opera about the tragic life of Smith is "dumbing down" opera. 

See Laura Clout, Anna Nicole Smith: The Opera at ROH, Telegraph, April 4, 2008.

"Old Geezer" Is Not Politically Correct

The International Longevity Center in New York and the Aging Services of California have put together a stylebook for media professionals called Media Takes: On Aging.  The guide informs the reader of correct and incorrect ways to refer to our older population. 

According to the book, words such as elderly and senior citizen are taboo, while nursing home has been replaced with skilled nursing facility, and its patient is now a resident.   

For more information on the book and other politically incorrect terms (some obvious, others not so obvious), see Jane Gross, Goodbye, Spry Codgers. So Long, Feisty Crones., NY Times, Feb. 11, 2009.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.

Buy Your Coffin at Costco - Or, Just Build it Yourself

Changing ideas about traditional funeral and burial practices are bringing change to the industry. 

Death planning now includes options like a personalized funeral service where the Good Humor Man passes out ice cream, buying your coffin at Costco, and purchasing jewelery keepsakes that hold a loved one's ashes. 

Says one may who sells coffin kits to build on your own, "You can stand the box up in the garage, or put it under the pool table for when the time comes."  Gabrielle Glaser, The Funeral: Your Last Chance to Be a Big Spender, NY Times, April 18, 2009.

Day 92 -- Write Your Own Will

One of my students, Charlie Malolo (J.D. Candidate, Texas Tech University School of Law) recently sent me a form will which provides a simple, albeit unusual, dispositive scheme for your property.  [If you click on the thumbnail to the left, you can see the will large enough to read.]

For example, it provides for the disposition of assets as follows:

• Car to husband.
• Food in my fridge to favorite child.
• Food in freezer to ugly child.
• Socks to child born out of wedlock.
• Favorite sweater to mistress.
• Secret life saving to lover.
• Huge debts to orphans.
• Bed bugs to Bill Gates.

Despite its design to be humorous, it has the necessary elements to be a valid will assuming it was executed by a person with testamentary capacity and testamentary intent and attested by two witnesses.

Off Topic -- Judge shows fondness for Fab 4

Judge Gregory Todd of the 13th Judical District Court of Montana demonstrated his love of the Beatles in an opinion involving a burglary.  Here is the opinion in State v. McCormack, No. DC 06-0323 (Feb. 26, 2007):

Mr. McCormack, you pled guilty to the charge of Burglary. To aid me in sentencing, I reviewed the pre-sentence investigation report. I read with interest the section containing Defendant’s statement. To the question of "Give your recommendation as to what you think the Court should do in this case," you said, "Like the Beetles say, 'Let it be.'"

While I will not explore the epistemological or entomological overtones of your response, or even the syntactic or symbolic keys of your allusion, I will say Hey Jude, Do You Want To Know A Secret? The greatest band in rock history spelled their name B-E-A-T-L-E-S.

I interpret the meaning of your response to suggest that there should be no consequences for your actions and I should just Let it Be so that you can live in Strawberry Fields Forever. Such reasoning is Here, There and Everywhere. It does not require a Magical Mystery Tour of interpretation to know The Word means leave it alone. I trust we can all Come Together.

If I were to overlook your actions and Let It Be, I would have to ignore that Day in the Life on April 21, 2006. Evidently, you said to yourself I Feel Fine while drinking beer. Later, whether you wanted Money or were just trying to Act Naturally, you became the Fool on the Hill. As Mr. Moonlight at 1:30 A.M., you did not think for yourself, but just focused on I, Me, Mine. Because you didn't ask for Help, wait for something else, or listen to your conscience saying, "Honey, Don't," the victim later that day was Fixing a Hole in the glass door you broke. After you stole the eighteen-pack of Old Milwaukee, you decided it was time to Run for Your Life and Carry That Weight. But when the witness said, "Baby, It's You," the police responded, "I'll Get You," and you had to admit, "You Really Got a Hold on Me." You were not able to Get Back Home because of the Chains they put on you. Although you hoped the police would say, "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" and "We Can Work It Out," you were in Misery when they said you were a Bad Boy. When the police took you to jail, you experienced Something New as they said, "Hello, Goodbye," and you became a Nowhere Man.

Later, when you thought about what you did, you may have said, "I'll Cry Instead." Now you're saying, "Let It Be," instead of, "I'm A Loser." As a result of your Hard Day's Night, you were looking at a Ticket To Ride that Long and Winding Road. Hopefully, you can say When I'm Sixty-Four, "I Should Have Known Better."

Special thanks to Brian Shannon (Charles B. Thornton Professor of Law, Texas Tech University School of Law) for bringing this opinion to my attention.

Famous Last Words

So, by what last words do you want to be remembered?  Is it something like, "The brakes aren't working! * * *" or "I have been... and always shall be... your friend.  Live long... and prosper."

In Famous Last Words -- Clever Ways to Say Goodbye Forever, Asylum.com, Dec. 3, 2008, the alleged last words of twenty famous individuals are presented.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• "Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?" -- Writer William Saroyan
• "Now, now, my good man, this is no time for making enemies."-- Philosopher Voltaire when asked by a priest to renounce Satan.
• "How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?" -- Entrepreneur P. T. Barnum
• "Go on, get out -- last words are for fools who haven't said enough." -- Revolutionary Karl Marx"
• "I've had 18 straight whiskeys; I think that's the record." -- Poet Dylan Thomas

Special thanks to Sara Hudman (J.D. 2008, Texas Tech University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention

Off topic -- The Famous "Wayne's World" Case

In 1992, United States District Judge James C. Paine authored the famous "Wayne's World" case, Noble v. Bradford Marine, Inc., 789 F. Supp. 395 (S.D. Fla. 1992).

The case is filled with references to phrases popularized by the movie such as "hurling chunks, " "Like a Winged Monkey Flying Out of the Ashes," and "not worthy."

Here are some examples:

The blaze hurled chunks of flaming debris to other vessels, destroying those owned by LYN C. NOBLE NOBLE") and  ROBERT C. MUIR ("MUIR").  * * *

A Schwing and a Miss -- Because of the court's admiralty jurisdiction, MUIR's original Complaint, like his Amended Complaint, provided BRADFORD with a basis for removal. * * *

As a result, PRIME TIME's removal, almost ten months after MUIR commenced suit, is untimely and is a defect deemed "way" improvident. For similar reasons, the court finds that removal of the NOBLE case, which had been remanded, was also untimely. In short, PRIME TIME's most bogus attempt at removal is "not worthy" and the Defendants must "party on" in state court . . .

Belated Thanksgiving Humor

Yes, I know that I'm almost two months late with this, but I just saw it and thought you might enjoy it nonetheless.

   

 

   

   

   

   

   

   

 
As printed in Business Law Today, Nov./Dec. 2008, at 18.

Off Topic -- A most unusual motion

This posting is completely off-topic but I thought it was most interesting and thus I wanted to share it with you.

You can follow this link to the case of Washington v. AA. Aliamo, 934 F. Supp. 1395 (S.D. Ga. 1996), in which the judge imposed various sanctions on a plaintiff who filed a motion entitled "Motion to Kiss My Ass."

As you may have surmised, the plaintiff was proceeding pro se.

The "Right" Kind of Obituary

The following is from the obituary of James William "Jim" Adams, Trib.com (Wyoming), Sept. 15, 2008:

A celebration of life for James William "Jim" Adams, 53, will be held at a later date.

He died Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 at Memorial Hospital of Converse County in Douglas.

Jim, who had tired of reading obituaries noting other's courageous battles with this or that disease, wanted it known that he lost his battle. It was primarily as a result of being stubborn and not following doctor's orders or maybe for just living life a little too hard for better than five decades.

He was born June 8, 1955 in Garrison, N.D. the son of James William and Ruby Helen (Clark) Adams.

He was sadly deprived of his final wish, which was to be run over by a beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a date. True to his personal style, he spent his final hours joking with medical personnel, cussing and begging for narcotics and bargaining with God to look over his loving dog, Biscuit, and his family.

He would like to thank all "his ladies" for putting up with him the last 30 years.

During his life, he excelled at anything he put his mind to. He loved to hear and tell jokes and spin tales of grand adventures he may or may not have had. * * *

In lieu of flowers, he asks that you make a sizeable purchase at your favorite watering hole, get rip roaring drunk and tell the stories he no longer can.