Wills are something all of us should have. But we do not like to think about them because they force us to recognize our mortality and plan for events we would rather not consider.
Because estate planning is a heavy topic, I started a feature years ago that I called Wacky Wednesday, highlighting bizarre bequests and unusual wishes that people have left behind. They will definitely make you question the concept of “sound mind.” This article brings the best of those stories together, double-checks the facts, and, more importantly, pulls out what each one can teach you about your own plan. Some of the details that circulate online about these wills turned out to be wrong or impossible to confirm, so I have left those out.
| Story | The lesson |
|---|---|
| Leona Helmsley | A pet trust can be too large, and leaving heirs out without a clear reason invites a fight |
| Sandra West | Burial wishes need to be in the right document and backed by an incentive |
| Charles Millar | Conditions in a Will have to work in real life, and gifts of property you no longer own fail |
| T.M. Zink | A spiteful Will is the easiest Will to challenge |
| Ray Fulk | You can leave your estate to anyone, but your executor still has to find them |
| Harry Houdini | What you want your family to know has to be written down |
| Jeremy Bentham | Instructions for your body belong in a signed directive |
| Leslie Ann Mandel | Pets need a trust, and changes need to be signed like a Will |
| Standley, Headrick, Doohan and Roddenberry | Unusual funeral wishes are honored when the right person is in charge |
Leona Helmsley: The Pampered Dog and the Disinherited Grandchildren
Leona Helmsley was known as the “Queen of Mean,” but her dog might disagree. She dressed her Maltese, Trouble, in expensive outfits and had meals prepared for him by a chef. When she died in 2007, her will left $12 million in trust for Trouble’s care. Most of her estate, which was reported to be worth billions, went to charity. The will also left out two of her grandchildren, Craig and Meegan Panzirer, saying only that she made no provision for them “for reasons which are known to them.”
The will did not hold up as written. In 2008, Manhattan Surrogate Judge Renee Roth cut the dog’s trust from $12 million to $2 million and redirected the other $10 million to Helmsley’s charitable foundation, and the two grandchildren who had been cut out were reported to receive $6 million between them (CBS News).
What it teaches
- Pets can be provided for, but the amount has to make sense. Texas allows a trust for the care of an animal that is alive during the owner’s lifetime, and the trust ends when the animal dies (Texas Property Code Section 112.037). If the court decides the trust holds more than the animal needs, the excess can be used for another purpose. North Carolina has a similar rule that lets the clerk of superior court reduce the amount if it substantially exceeds what is needed (G.S. 36C-4-408). See Estate Planning for Pets for how to size and structure a pet trust.
- If you leave a family member out, say why in a way that cannot be misunderstood. A Will that says the reasons are “known to them” leaves the judge, and the family, guessing. Disinherited relatives are the ones most likely to challenge a Will. I explain how to reduce that risk in Should I Add a No-Contest Clause to My Will?
Sandra West: Buried in Her Ferrari
It has been said that Americans have love affairs with their cars, but Sandra West took that love to an extreme. West was a Beverly Hills socialite and the widow of a Texas oil man. Her handwritten will asked to be buried in her blue Ferrari, dressed in a lacy nightgown, with the seat slanted comfortably. According to San Antonio Express-News reporting, the burial took place on May 18, 1977, at the Alamo Masonic Cemetery in San Antonio, next to her husband. A crane lowered the car, in a large box, into the ground, and concrete was poured over it to discourage looters. More than 300 people attended (Jalopnik, summarizing the Express-News and UPI). Accounts disagree about the cause of her death and the model of the car.
She also gave her late husband’s brother, Sol West, an incentive to carry out her wishes. According to published accounts, her will left him $2 million if he buried her as she asked, but only $10,000 if he did not.
What it teaches
- An incentive can make a wish stick. Many people want something unusual done with their remains or their property, and the people who must do it may not agree. West tied a large gift to compliance. Used carefully, a condition like that can help, but it has to be written clearly.
- Put burial wishes where they will be found and followed. Under Texas Health and Safety Code Section 711.002, the person you name in a signed written instrument has the first right to control the disposition of your remains, ahead of your spouse and children. Written directions can be in a will, a prepaid funeral contract, or a separate signed and acknowledged document, and directions in a will can be carried out right away without waiting for probate. See Who Can Make Funeral Arrangements in Texas When There Isn’t a Will?
- A handwritten will can work, but it has to meet the rules. In Texas, a will written wholly in the testator’s handwriting does not need witnesses (Estates Code Section 251.052), though it still has to be signed and should be proven carefully. See Holographic Wills in Texas.
Charles Millar and the Great Stork Derby
Charles Vance Millar was a Toronto lawyer and financier who was famous for his practical jokes. He died on October 31, 1926, and his will reflected his sense of humor. He left a joint lifetime tenancy in a Jamaica vacation home to three men who disliked each other, on the condition that they live there together. He left stock in a brewery to Toronto’s Protestant ministers, on the condition that they take part in managing it and draw dividends.
His final bequest drew the most attention. The rest of his estate was to be converted to cash ten years after his death and given to the Toronto woman who had the most children during that time. The “Great Stork Derby” lasted until 1936. Four mothers who each had nine children received $110,000 each, and the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the clause. Two other women with weaker claims received $12,500 each to end their litigation (Great Stork Derby and Charles Vance Millar).
What it teaches
- A gift of property you no longer own generally fails. Millar had already sold the vacation home before he died, so it was not part of his estate when his will was probated. If you give a specific house, account, or business interest in your will and then sell it, the person you named may receive nothing. Review your documents when your assets change. See Updating, Revoking, or Replacing a Will in Texas.
- A condition should be something a real person can do. Few conditions are as clever as Millar’s, and most create problems. A condition that depends on strangers cooperating, or that is hard to measure, can lead to years of litigation. His did: the Stork Derby ended up in court.
T.M. Zink and the Womanless Library
T.M. Zink was a lawyer who wrote an “intense hatred of women” into his will. He died in 1930 and set aside money to be invested for 75 years, intending to fund the “Zink Womanless Library,” where no women would be admitted and no books or art by women would be allowed. According to published accounts, he left his daughter almost nothing. She challenged the will, the library was never built, and the estate ended up with a woman after all (Futility Closet). The details vary by source, but they agree that his daughter prevailed and the library never opened.
What it teaches
- A will built on spite is a will built to be challenged. The people most likely to contest are those cut out in favor of an unusual cause. A gift that excludes a child, or a purpose that looks odd on its face, invites claims that the testator was not of sound mind. See Should I Add a No-Contest Clause to My Will?
- If you want to leave something unusual, plan it with a lawyer. A charitable purpose can be set up in a trust that is clear, workable, and documented, with the reasons recorded at the time you sign.
Ray Fulk: A Fortune for Two Actors He Never Met
Most people leave their estates to family, close friends, or charity. Ray Fulk had other ideas. He was a reclusive 71-year-old who lived alone in a central Illinois farmhouse with no running water, yet he left an estate worth around $1 million. He never married and had no children or close family. He had written fan letters to two actors he had never met, Kevin Brophy and Peter Barton, and they had written back, thanking him and pitching their next movie or show. He considered them friends, and his will left them the bulk of his estate.
When Fulk’s attorney sent the actors letters, they thought it was a scam. It was real (ABA Journal).
What it teaches
- It is your property, and you decide who gets it. If you are single and have no close relatives, the intestacy statutes would send your property to distant relatives or, in rare cases, to the State of Texas. A will lets you choose people you care about instead. See Who Are the Heirs of a Single Person Who Dies Without a Will?
- Make sure your executor can find the people you name. Fulk’s beneficiaries first took the news for a scam. Tell your attorney how to reach each beneficiary, and consider a short letter to be delivered with the news. See How to Protect Seniors From Financial Fraud for why people are right to be skeptical of unexpected messages about money.
Harry Houdini: A Code, a Wife, and Ten Years of Séances
Harry Houdini, whose real name was Ehrich Weiss, was one of the most famous magicians and escape artists of all time. After his mother died, he began a quest to contact her, and as his attempts failed, he became convinced that most mediums were frauds. He spent the last years of his life exposing them. Still, he left a glimmer of hope that contact from the grave was possible.
Houdini and his wife Bess agreed that whoever died first would try to contact the other, and that the pact would end after ten years. He promised to send a coded message so she would know it was really him. Houdini died on Halloween 1926. Bess held séances every year, and the last one was on Halloween night 1936, on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. Houdini did not come through, and she announced that she no longer believed it was possible (Library of Congress).
What it teaches
- Grieving people are targets. Houdini’s crusade was against people who took advantage of the vulnerable at a vulnerable time. That has not changed. Families who have just lost someone are approached by scammers, and the elderly most of all. See How to Protect Seniors From Financial Fraud.
- What you want your family to know needs to be written down, and they need to know where it is. A promise to Bess did not give her anything she could use. A letter of instruction, a list of accounts and passwords, and instructions for your executor do. See You’ve Signed Your Estate Planning Documents. Now What? and Estate Planning for Intangible Treasures.
Jeremy Bentham: The Philosopher Who Is Still on Display
Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher who died in 1832, left a will asking that his body be preserved and displayed as an “auto-icon.” His friend Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith prepared it, and the figure, dressed in Bentham’s clothes and seated in a wooden cabinet, has been at University College London since 1850. The preservation of his head went badly, so a wax head replaced it. A popular story says he attends college council meetings and is recorded as “present but not voting.” University College London’s Bentham Project says that is a myth, although he was recorded that way at a council meeting in 2013 (UCL News).
What it teaches
- Instructions for your body should be in a document that your family can act on quickly. A will is often not read until after the funeral. In Texas, you can name a person to carry out your wishes in a signed, acknowledged instrument, and your family and the funeral home must follow it as far as the estate can afford it (Health and Safety Code Section 711.002).
- Talk to the person you name. Bentham’s friend carried out an unusual request. Most people would not, and no one should find out about a request like his from the will itself.
Leslie Ann Mandel: A Will for 32 Cockatiels
Leslie Ann Mandel loved her animals: 32 cockatiels who lived in an aviary at her home in East Hampton, New York, plus a cat and a dog. She made provisions for them in her will, which set up a $100,000 trust with her stepson as trustee, asked that the birds continue to live in the aviary, and allowed them to be moved to “a protected place of similar size” if necessary, for the rest of their natural lives (International Business Times).
What it teaches
- Pets need a plan, and a trust is the way to give it force. A bequest of money to a pet’s caretaker is a gift; a trust gives the caretaker a duty to use it for the animal. See Estate Planning for Pets and Who Will Take Care of My Pets After I Die?
- Do not scribble changes on a signed will. In my Wacky Wednesday post on Ms. Mandel, I noted that if her will had many handwritten changes made after she signed it, it could cause trouble in Texas. In Texas, a will is changed by a new will or a codicil that meets the same signing requirements, and a note added after signing generally does not count (Estates Code Section 251.051). If so many changes are made that the original terms cannot be determined, a will may be denied probate.
Unusual Funeral Wishes: Standley, Headrick, Doohan and Roddenberry
Some of the best-known requests are about what happens to the body.
- Billy Standley of Ohio loved his 1967 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. His sons built him a Plexiglas casket, reinforced with wood and steel, years before he died, and in January 2014 he was buried riding the motorcycle, wearing black leather and sunglasses (Christian Science Monitor).
- Ed Headrick, the inventor of the modern Frisbee and the father of disc golf, died on August 12, 2002. His ashes were molded into memorial discs, which were given to family and friends and sold to help fund a disc golf museum (PDGA).
- James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, died in 2005. His ashes went into space in a launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 on May 22, 2012, carried by the company Celestis (Space.com). If you are a Star Trek fan like me, you will also know that the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, was part of Celestis’s first flight in 1997, and that capsule stayed in orbit until 2002 (Celestis).
What these stories teach
- Plan, and pay for it. Standley’s casket was built years ahead, and Headrick’s discs were made to fund something. Unusual requests cost money, and under Section 711.002 a family has to follow written directions only as far as the estate can afford.
- Name someone who will see it through. Anyone can write down a wish. A person named in a signed instrument has the first right to carry it out, and they should be someone who understands and agrees. If you do not name anyone, the right passes to your spouse, adult children, and others in the order the statute lists.
- Write it down before the funeral, not after. A wish that lives only in a will can be found too late. Share the instructions with your family and your named agent now.
What These Stories Have in Common
- The wishes that held up were clear, backed by someone willing to carry them out, and did not depend on the cooperation of the people who were hurt by them.
- The ones that did not hold up, such as Helmsley’s dog trust and Zink’s library, were challenged by family members who were left out.
You do not have to leave $12 million to a dog to benefit from the same planning. The same tools protect an ordinary family: a will that follows the signing rules, a trust where one is needed, written instructions for your funeral, and a periodic review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I leave money to my pet in Texas?
Not directly, because an animal cannot own property. You can create a trust for the care of an animal that is alive during your lifetime, and the trust ends when the animal dies (Property Code Section 112.037).
Can my will say how I want to be buried?
Yes. Under Section 711.002 of the Health and Safety Code, directions in a will are carried out immediately without probate, and you can also use a separate signed and acknowledged document. Name a person to carry them out.
Can a family member challenge a strange will?
A person who is financially affected by the will, such as an heir who was left out, can challenge it, for example on the grounds that the testator lacked capacity. Unusual terms do not make a will invalid on their own, but they invite scrutiny.
Make Your Wishes Count
Whether your wishes are conventional or unusual, they only matter if they are written down the right way. If you want a will, a pet trust, or funeral directions that your family can act on, schedule a free introductory conference.
