When you consider that my full-time working life started out in Solicitors you would have thought that I would have been on the ball when it came to writing a Will but sadly no, it’s one of those jobs that I keep putting off. I know that I really should get it done but just keep on pushing it down the to-do list.
When I was contacted by The Law House to see if I was interested in sharing this fun Infographic about #WillsInNumbers I said yes because it resonated with me and the Beans. One of their favourite Movies from Netflix is called The Duke, about a Philanthropic kind-hearted Duke of the Manor who leaves his estate to his beloved dog Hubert and makes the Butler’s niece his Legal Guardian. His greedy nephew opposes the Will and acquires a dog so that he can ‘marry-off’ the dogs and take control of the estate and his late-Uncle’s fortune. The thing about this film is that it wouldn’t be so crazy if it wasn’t something that really could happen. I’ve certainly heard of people who leave their estate or large sums of it to their pets but I didn’t consider that it could be as much as some of these wealthy pets named in the infographic.
At the current time the only pets we have are four tropical fish and to be fair the current quartet have lasted a lot longer than their predecessors but I’m not sure they would care less whether they received any money or not. Just a clean tank every now and then and perhaps a higher quality fish food?
Don’t have friends or family to leave your money too? Or perhaps you just don’t like them (which is a shame) . . .
What about the Will at the bottom where it was to be held in state until 21 years after the Grandchild had died? He obviously didn’t want his family to benefit from his wealth.
I like the Portugese aristocrat who left his fortune to the random strangers – what a lovely surprise to receive something like that. Let’s hope it put a smile on their faces.
So it’s left me wondering, what crazy thing might you like to do with your estate if you didn’t want to leave it to your family or friends?