Category:
Inheritance and Wills
Inheritance and Wills
Money in the chicken coop
Sounds like Albert didn't want his sisters to know about the money in the chicken coop. Perhaps it was his intention for it all to burn after he died.
Atlanta Journal - Dec 15, 1968
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jul 18, 2024 -
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Category: Money, Inheritance and Wills, 1960s
Man leaves thousands to a stranger, $1 to his wife
When Fred Eggerman died on March 24, 1960, his will left his estate worth approximately $12,000 (about $120,000 in today's money) to the first male child born in Paterson General Hospital on July 2, 1946. He had no idea who that child had been. To his wife he left one dollar.The lucky beneficiary turned out to be high-school student Robert De Boer.
Eggerman's wife filed suit to overturn the will, together with Eggerman's father and brother. They eventually reached a settlement, but it only got them a mere $850. De Boer kept the rest.
Newsday - Apr 22, 1961
New York Daily News - Apr 20, 1961
Based on those details it definitely sounds like Eggerman must a) have been a bit eccentric, and b) have hated his wife. That's how many news articles presented the case. But the article below went into some background details which help to explain what Eggerman did.
For a start, he and his wife had been separated for years and had already worked out a property settlement. So there was no particular reason to leave her more.
As for leaving everything to an unknown child:
Eggermann just wanted to leave his money to a boy who would be about 10 years old at the time he drew the will. Mrs. and Mrs. Eggermann were childless.
Passaic Herald-News - Feb 8, 1962
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jul 12, 2024 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Lawsuits, 1960s
Woodbury Rand, cat lover
When Boston attorney Woodbury Rand died in 1944, he left $40,000 to his cat Buster. Out of a $1,000,000 estate, that's not particularly unusual. But what made his will odd was that he disinherited anyone whom he felt hadn't properly appreciated Buster.Buster was only 8 years old when Rand died, but he died the following year. Perhaps of a broken heart?
New York Daily News - Aug 6, 1944
New York Daily News - Dec 30, 1945
Posted By: Alex - Sat May 11, 2024 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Cats, 1940s
Estate Willed by Talkie
Video wills have become quite common, but they weren't back in 1931. So the unnamed testator described below was breaking new ground by creating one (or rather, a filmed will).I particularly like the detail that he left instructions on where everyone should sit while watching the film, so that he could look at each person directly from the grave.
Wichita Eagle - Jan 10, 1931
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 30, 2024 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Law, Movies, 1930s
A year of chocolate
When he died in 1976, John Bostock left money in his will so that every child under five in the village of Westgate-in-Weardale would be given a bar of chocolate once a week for a year.The children in Eastgate-in-Weardale must have felt like they drew the short end of the straw.
Burton Daily Mail - Mar 5, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 27, 2023 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Chocolate, 1970s
The Doomsday Will of Maurice Dekobra
According to Wikipedia, during the 1920s and 30s Maurice Dekobra was probably the best-known French writer in the world. His most famous book was La Madone des Sleepings (The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars), which according to its Amazon blurb is "one of the first and most influential spy novels of the twentieth century."I hadn't heard of it. This is probably because (again according to Wikipedia) by the 21st Century Dekobra had become a "total unknown."
In 1945, while Dekobra was still near the height of his fame, he drew up an unusual will. He left his entire library of 17,000 books as well as his art collection to the town of Papeete in Tahiti. He did this because he figured that big cities such as Paris and London would probably soon be destroyed by nuclear bombs. But Papeete might survive. Therefore, so might his books.
Dekobra ended up living until 1973. I haven't been able to find out if, by that time, he had changed his will, or if Papeete ever got his books.
Los Angeles Times - Oct 3, 1945
Dekobra in 1965 holding some of his books
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 15, 2023 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Books
Biggest gratuity ever?
In 1941, when Dolores Moran was 15, she worked as a waitress at a drive-in restaurant in San Jose, California. One day she served a local farmer some coffee and hamburger. The next year Moran left San Jose and moved to Hollywood where she achieved brief fame as an actress.
Dolores Moran. Image source: wikipedia
By the 1960s her acting career had ended. But then, in 1968, Moran learned that the farmer she had served at the drive-in 27 years ago had died, leaving her his apricot orchard valued at around $300,000 (or $2.5 million in today's money).
Moran had no memory of serving the farmer, whose name was Anthony Ponce. Nor had the two ever communicated since then. She said, "for the life of me I can't remember the man." But evidently she had made a big impression on him.
Monroe News Star - Dec 18, 1968
Ponce's relatives contested the will, arguing that he was not of sound mind when he made it. I haven't been able to find out how the case was settled, but I'm guessing Moran got to keep the orchard since it's usually fairly difficult to invalidate a will.
If she did get to keep it, then that would have to count as one of the biggest gratuities of all time. Perhaps the biggest? Especially for an order of coffee and hamburger.
Peninsula Times Tribune - Feb 19, 1969
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 06, 2023 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Law, Restaurants, Actors
The Strange Will of John Mostow
Source: The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts)04 Apr 1928, Wed Page 16
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 06, 2022 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Eccentrics, Law, Money, Candy, 1920s
The Burial of Sandra Ilene West
May 1977: Per her request, oil heiress Sandra Ilene West was buried dressed in a lace night gown, seated in her 1964 blue Ferrari "with the seat slanted comfortably".More info: Retro Hollywood
Christie's Auction Catalogue 1979
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - May 20, 1977
Jet - July 7, 1977
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 20, 2022 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, 1970s, Cars
Buried in Snuff
Margaret Thompson of London was buried on April 2, 1776. Her will directed that her casket should be filled with snuff, and that snuff should be liberally handed out to the crowd at her funeral.I Margaret Thompson, &c. being of sound mind, &c. do desire, that when my soul is departed from this world, my body and effects may be disposed of in a manner following, &c. &c.—
I also desire that all my handkerchiefs that I may leave unwashed at the time of my disease, after they have been got together by my old and trust servant, Sarah Stuart, be put by her alone, at the bottom of my coffin, which I desire may be large enough for that purpose, together with such a quantity of the best Scotch snuff (in which she knoweth I always had the greatest delight) as will cover my deceased body — and this I desire more especially, as it is usual to put flowers into the coffin of departed friends, and nothing can be so fragrant and refreshing to me as that precious power.
But I strictly charge that no man be suffered to approach my body till the coffin is closed, and it is necessary to carry me to my burial, which I order in the manner following:
Six men to be my bearers, who are well known to be the greatest snuff takers in the parish of St. James', Westminster—and instead of mourning, each to wear a snuff coloured beaver, which I desire may be bought for that purpose, and given them.
Six maidens of my old acquaintance, viz. &c. to bear my pall, each to wear a proper hood, and to carry a box filled with the best Scotch snuff, to take for their refreshment as they go along. Before my corpse I desire the minister may be invited to walk, and to take a desirable quantity of the said snuff, not exceeding one pound; to whom I bequeath two guineas on condition of so doing. And I also desire my old and faithful servant, Sarah Stuart, to walk before the corpse, to distribute every twenty yards, a large handful of Scotch snuff to the ground, and upon the crowd who may possibly follow me to the burial place—on which condition I bequeath her £20. And I also desire, that at least two bushels of said snuff may be distributed at the door of my house in Boyle street.
Source: Euterpeiad, or, Musical Intelligencer & Ladies' Gazette - June 28, 1821
I also desire that all my handkerchiefs that I may leave unwashed at the time of my disease, after they have been got together by my old and trust servant, Sarah Stuart, be put by her alone, at the bottom of my coffin, which I desire may be large enough for that purpose, together with such a quantity of the best Scotch snuff (in which she knoweth I always had the greatest delight) as will cover my deceased body — and this I desire more especially, as it is usual to put flowers into the coffin of departed friends, and nothing can be so fragrant and refreshing to me as that precious power.
But I strictly charge that no man be suffered to approach my body till the coffin is closed, and it is necessary to carry me to my burial, which I order in the manner following:
Six men to be my bearers, who are well known to be the greatest snuff takers in the parish of St. James', Westminster—and instead of mourning, each to wear a snuff coloured beaver, which I desire may be bought for that purpose, and given them.
Six maidens of my old acquaintance, viz. &c. to bear my pall, each to wear a proper hood, and to carry a box filled with the best Scotch snuff, to take for their refreshment as they go along. Before my corpse I desire the minister may be invited to walk, and to take a desirable quantity of the said snuff, not exceeding one pound; to whom I bequeath two guineas on condition of so doing. And I also desire my old and faithful servant, Sarah Stuart, to walk before the corpse, to distribute every twenty yards, a large handful of Scotch snuff to the ground, and upon the crowd who may possibly follow me to the burial place—on which condition I bequeath her £20. And I also desire, that at least two bushels of said snuff may be distributed at the door of my house in Boyle street.
Source: Euterpeiad, or, Musical Intelligencer & Ladies' Gazette - June 28, 1821
Source: Crazy - But True!, by Jonathan Clements
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 05, 2022 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Eighteenth Century
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