Even if we don’t like to think about it, death is the inevitable end to our journey. We tell ourselves not to worry about it since it won’t happen for a long time. After all, only a handful of people look forward to the day when they’ll need to sit down and write out their wishes about the care of their children, pets, and the things they value most in this world.
Yet, some family members decide that this is the best way to surprise their relatives, even from beyond the grave. User melshole created a thread on Ask Reddit where they gave lawyers the chance to share some of the most interesting, bizarre, and offensive things they ever saw in someone’s will, and hundreds of responses started pouring in.
From hilarious stipulations to the strangest demands, Bored Panda has collected some of the best answers from this viral thread. Have a read through these stories and upvote the wildest ones. And if you’ve ever heard some strange bequests people left in their wills, let us know in the comment section below!
#1
Not a Lawyer, but an aging woman my family knew left her house(large, and in a very affluent neighborhood) and estate to family friends for so long as her cats were alive and taken care of in said house. After they died, the house was to be sold and the remaining estate donated.
The weird thing is, it’s been like 20 years and the cats are still alive.
Also, they’ve changed color.
Image source: EndlessArgument, umit ozbek
#2
My grandfather hated his neighbor. They lived next to each other for 20+ years. I remember well my grandfather raging at every opportunity about this guy. We never saw them speak to each other.
In Grandpa’s will, he left the guy $10K, a car, and golf clubs. We were dumbstruck.
Turns out, they were good buddies from the army. When they coincidentally bought homes next to each other, they decided to play a long scam with both their families. They actually played golf together two to three times per week and had a monthly poker game for years.
Image source: kooknboo, Pixabay
#3
My grandfather passed a few hours ago, but my grandmother came to me after with a navy blue tie featuring pink elephants. Ridiculous looking, but she said that he wore it to intimidate people in business, as someone willing to wear such a ridiculous tie doesn’t care about what people think. That scares people. So he wanted me to have it, so I could do the same.
Image source: snoboreddotcom
#4
“To my daughter Anne, who created my beautiful granddaughter Jane, and her dear fourth husband John, who laid hands on my Jane, I leave one dollar you money-grubbing b*stards. To Jane, I leave all of my monetary assets, save $5,000 and my best gun, which I leave to my son Bill, on the condition that he beats John bloody during the time between my funeral and my burial. Jane, bail your uncle out of jail, please.”
Other than names, this is the exact wording of a great-uncle’s will… And in case anyone wondered, yes, Bill got his five grand. He didn’t get arrested, though, because John had a warrant on him, so he didn’t dare call the cops. Bill did kindly inform the police of his whereabouts a few weeks later.
Image source: UndeadKitten, cottonbro
#5
I’m not a lawyer, but my family has an odd story involving a will.
Several generations back, a woman (along with her brothers) in our family inherited a huge sum of money from her father (oil money in Oklahoma). At the time, women were allowed to inherit property/assets if single, but all assets would have been transferred to her husband if she married.
She wasn’t too happy about the situation and, in protest, never took a husband. She had a few “friends” over the course of her life and lived a very comfortable life until dying of old age. At which time, her estate was divided amongst all of the female descendants in the family.
tl;dnr: my great, great, great aunt of something was a bad ass feminist b****.
Image source: gonna_get_tossed, Watoker Derrick Okello
#6
My great-grandfather had a pair of socks that he only wore on Christmas Day with the family. They were hideous. After he passed, we found out he left those socks to my uncle in his will and told him to carry on the tradition, which my uncle has done. I’ve already been told I’m getting them next.
Image source: angelusmortis94, Ryan Stone
#7
My grandpa gave me all his tools (which sounds dumb, but we are in the same trade, and it was a real life changer. It included a lift and his old shop truck, so I pretty much got everything to start my own shop but a building), a pretty good chunk of change, and his dog Tanner, as long as I made sure his live-in girlfriend at the time got nothing at all, and I told my uncle he was fat and his wife was going to leave him if she couldn’t find his pecker. There was literally a script inside the will.
Image source: Headbangerfacerip, Pixabay
#8
My grandma left a penny and a nasty comment to almost every person in her will – all of her sons and daughters, even a few grandchildren. Except for me. I got 1,000 dollars.
Thanks, Grandma.
Image source: Thecatdaddysupreme, Debby Hudson
#9
I read a lot of estate documents as part of my job. There is so much subtle shade in them occasionally, they can be pretty entertaining. One super wealthy lady had a huge section for the care and well being of her pets, with primary and successor caretakers, a certain amount of money from the trust for care and feeding of each pet (one pet owner might receive 3k a month to take care of one of her pets after she passed), and certain stipulations on how they were to be cared for. While some might see it as excessive, the language and stipulations she had, and how they were referred to showed that she really, really loved her pets.
In that same will and trust, she also left a slew of people only one dollar, so that there would be no chance they could take the trust to probate court one the basis that they were merely forgotten. That part had SO MUCH SUBTLE SHADE. A lot of “they know what they did”, “they are well aware of their guilt in the matter”, etc. They she split up about 2 million dollars among 5 or 6 different animal rescues and animal welfare charities.
It was around 200 pages long, and I swear I read the entire thing just for the sheer entertainment value.
Image source: Harmonic_Content, Alec Favale
#10
Not me, but whenever I visited my old grandma in Nicaragua, it would always seem my aunts and uncles would be weirdly nice to her, almost as if she was a famous person. People would be visiting her house to greet her and strike a conversation. One day, my mother walked into my grandma’s room to have a conversation with her.
I remember during the flight back (3-4 after the conversation) I asked her what the conversation was about. She told me that grandma used to have childeren that almost never talked to her, and now that shes sickly they are trying to act nice to get stuff out of her will. My grandma wanted to talk to my mom to ask her what she wanted from the house. My mom was always the favorite growing up since she charised grandma, and grandma wanted to pay her back for being a good daughter. My mom replied with “I don’t want anything for you, I just want your love” and they both smiled at eachother.
(Also she wanted us to take a washing machine back home to sell it for cash, but we declined)
FYI: She’s still alive. Grandma aint giving up yet
Image source: [deleted], Danie Franco
#11
My great-grandmother left most of her money to a local donkey sanctuary.
Image source: [deleted], hermaion
#12
Not a will, but a deed. The City I work for was renovating a small park that was donated to the City in the 1910s. We went looking through the hand-written deed for easements or other restrictions and found that the family could claw the property back if the park were not, “perpetually provided with a fountain of pleasant running water fit for consumption by man and beast alike.” …the family still has descendants in town, so we installed a new water fountain with a dog bowl filler just to be safe.
Image source: Sandor17, Jonny Gios
#13
When my great aunt whom I barely had any relationship with died, I discovered that in her will, she left me a taxidermied giant silk moth that she had hanging on her wall. Evidently someone told her about my love for bugs. I still have it and it’s one of the coolest things in my collection of odd knickknacks.
…she left my cousin a Furby.
#14
A good clause is always “for reasons known to them.” which is will-speak for “you’ve gone and f**ked up, ***hole. I don’t forgive you.”
In my own will, I’ve left my father “The contents of my kitchen trash can at the time of my passing, for reasons known to him.”
Image source: The_lady_is_trouble, Charles Deluvio
#15
Family friends did this – they have a net worth in the seven figures and two children. They left everything to their daughter and $1 to their son “for reasons known to him” (he has been estranged from them for a while).
That way, their daughter won’t be caught up in any kind of legal battle. By naming the son in the will and leaving him “some” money, he can’t claim that he was “omitted” from the will in error.
This was in following with their estate lawyer’s advice. Of course, their son can fight it, you can fight anything, but it’s a much harder battle if he’s expressly mentioned in the will and left something specific.
Image source: Lenachristina, NeONBRAND
#16
My grandmother had her b**bs done when she was in her 60s. Nothing really wrong with that, but when she died, she wanted an open casket with her b**bs on display. Really, Nanna? She passed away at 80 and got exactly what she asked for. Grandad had ended up sticking two strategically-placed daisies on her b**bs. So she got what she wanted, and so did Grandad. RIP Granny, you silly b**** love you.
Image source: FairyFlossFairy
#17
My grandfather left my uncle three things from his rather valuable estate:
One dollar in unrolled pennies.
A framed copy of a contract my uncle signed saying he owes my grandfather more than $100K (never repaid).
A framed copy of the letter my uncle sent my grandfather saying he was disowning my grandfather for “being cheap,” with my grandfather having written, “Accepted, a**hole,” and signed his name at the bottom.
Image source: Voxnemo, Annie Spratt
#18
This one isn’t necessarily crazy, just an interesting glimpse into the mind of a kind old woman in her 90s.
My aunt and uncle (both were more like parents and incredibly beautiful people) passed away within a few weeks of one another. When my uncle became ill, the aunt tried to work on a will with her long-term lawyer, but she was kinda just old and out of it. Her main concern the entire time was small knick-knacks like a jar of pennies she wanted a distant cousin to have or a used jacket from the 70s she bequeathed to a sister-in-law.
It was quite touching how much time she spent carefully considering each item and who would get it. Most of the items were used and didn’t even really hold any sentimental value, she just wanted them to go to good homes.
When she passed away, everyone knew exactly who was getting each odd item. The real kicker is when the lawyer told the primary beneficiaries that she never got around to the bigger assets and all that jazz. She basically told the lawyer, “Pay for our funeral and anything we owe and then family members x, y, and z can figure out the rest.” It ended up being millions in homes, lakefront property, jewelry, antique firearms, vehicles, life insurance policies, stocks, bonds, gold coins, etc. etc.
Luckily, the family is very close and everything went off without a hitch. They were amazing people who wanted to keep family items in the family, they just didn’t put that much weight on their incredible wealth. They also hid their wealth amazingly. We all knew that they were very comfortable, but no one had any idea they were deep into eight-figure assets. It was just funny to see a random niece get a set of plastic cups, worn dance shoes, and a check for $125,000.
Image source: SirMaximusPowers, Karolina Grabowska
#19
I’m not a lawyer but my dad put something really weird in his will. I a 17 year old last year was the recipient of a rock thrown at my head. I owed it to my dads quirky sense of humor and he probably thought that it would be the funniest s**t to ever happen and it was even any special rock it was one you’d find at the bottom of a river. Anyways this year I was reading some of the stuff he had written as I was never allowed to see the will being that I was too young at the time and didn’t think he’d end up dying. Regardless the note under My name and recipient items I was to get if he died was “throw this rock at ———— and hit him in the head with it but make it surprising” and I was thinking what the s**t dad what kind of a will is this. Then I read a little further on and he had left a note saying this is the rock that I had hit him in the head with when He was teaching me how to skip rocks when I was younger and I hit him so hard to dented his skull above his ear and it never really healed. It was the most meaningful thing he’d ever done and after all the years me and my dad had messed around with each other it was his way of winning and taking the final crack at me. It was so heartfelt it moved to tears. He got the last laugh and I was completely ok with it
Image source: ClubTuna15, Wolfgang Hasselmann
#20
Not a lawyer but had a very interesting experience when my grandma passed. My family has pretty much moved on from where my grandma lived, except myself and my children. Every week I went to her house for dinner. When I had my youngest (who is one now) she cooked me a meal everyday to feed my family so I wasn’t drowning. None of her other grandchildren or children spent any time with her. When she passed there was a lot that everyone wanted but she left everything to me. Even a stash of gold coins that she had buried in her back yard. She didn’t have much, but the little things I have from her mean everything to me. It was a huge ordeal and pretty much everyone hates me but maybe they should have spent time with her.
Image source: Jesuisunpomplemousse, RODNAE Productions
#21
Might be late to the party and not a lawyer, but my great-grandad had a clause in his will that stated something along the lines of, “if any of the beneficiaries decide to dispute the contents of the decedent’s estate, their share becomes $1 and nothing else.”
Seemed like a pretty good way to maintain harmony among his survivors.
Image source: nelson227, cottonbro
#22
“To my wife I leave her lover and the knowledge that I was never the fool she thought me. To my son I leave the pleasure of working for a living – for 25 years, he thought the pleasure was all mine.” — Best dis ever. Was in my Wills & Trusts book in law school as an example of people talking s**t in their wills (you’re supposed to discourage them as lawyers from doing so)
Image source: DoctorDanDrangus, Scott Graham
#23
My grandpa put in his will a chocolate bar for every one of his grandkids. Well, I have like 12 cousins, and it was very difficult to track down where a couple of them went. All the estates and money he had in his will were at a standstill for months because they couldn’t find a couple of cousins. We had to show the court that we put in effort to hire someone to track them down, etc. The lawyer that was helping execute the will was blown away that another lawyer allowed this, and why he wouldn’t highly suggest Grandpa not do it.
But I’m not complaining, ’cause I got a Toblerone out of the deal!
Image source: Rv14guy, Denny Müller
#24
My grandfather left me $1.00, he had dementia and confused my dad ripping him off with me. He left the rest of the family between $100,000 And a few million each. They all said they felt horrible because they knew the details, but not horrible enough to give up any of their share. The way I see it is it was never my money to begin with, so it’s not a loss. I’m just glad my sister got a hundred thousand,she needed it more than any of the others.
Image source: Killallthemods, Giorgio Trovato
#25
When my grandfather passed his will asked that I clean out his shed, and I alone.
I found marijuana seeds, old reel style film p***ography, which was hilarious and a bunch of other unsavory paraphernalia. 50’s flick knives too.
Image source: Navaro27
#26
Just last week I handled a matter where the parents left millions in artwork to various people, wads of cash to various charities, and only left their kids the family cats. Turns out they did it because the kids got them the cats to comfort the parents in their old age and the parents f**king hated the cats but the kids wouldn’t let them get rid of the cats.
Image source: Dr_BrOneil, Dietmar Ludmann
#27
Rich uncle of mine, real crazy, and not in a good way…
When he died he had no friends… He left his entire estate to an Elvis impersonator. Everything.
Image source: Whatshisfaceboy
#28
Best will story I personally know of:
The Father had a valuable antique Grandfather Clock, he also had 2 daughters. His solution:
If I die on an even day, daughter A gets the clock, an odd day and Daughter B gets it.
The Daughter who did not get the clock got an equivalent cash award based on the value of the clock.
I know of the event because I had to service the clock several times over the years.
Image source: chronos56
#29
In my trusts & estates class in law school, we read a case about a man who left everything to his wife, but only if she got his body stuffed and left it on the living room couch forever.
Luckily for her, the court invalidated that part of the husband’s will. IIRC, part of the reasoning was that it would make it impossible for her to date/remarry if she had her husband’s creepy dead body glaring at anyone who came to see her.
Image source: Luna_Lovelace, Element5 Digital
#30
My maternal* grandpa was wealthy. He divorced my maternal grandma, remarried, and promptly dropped dead of a heart attack. He was only 48 and had no will so everything went to his new wife, my moms stepmother. She was actually really nice and was planning on making sure that everything was “fair”…till she died in a car accident 6 months later. She was a widow herself prior to marrying grandpa and had a now orphaned 15 year old son from the previous marriage who got everything. My mom and her siblings had to go to the auction at their childhood home and buy back as much of their heirlooms and memories as they could afford (and, truthfully, stole some of what they couldnt).
Image source: nilockmoldred
#31
My grandma’s will literally says that one daughter is to get nothing, that it is her intent to leave her nothing, and that it is her wish that the daughter not be informed of her death until after she has been buried.
Half of her will is just language ensuring that everyone knows that she is intentionally leaving that daughter nothing, and that she is not able to contest that decision.
Image source: TiffyJenk, Aaron Burden
#32
A friend of mine was adopted at birth. When her mom died, the will gave half the estate to her ‘two natural daughters’. My friend got nothing.
Wtf
Image source: Chowderhead1
#33
Lots of people sending their friends and family on weird errands to spread their ashes (leaving money for people to take trips and spread their ashes around the world).
Pet trusts are a fun one: leaving a whole whack of money in a trust to be used for the care of the pet during their life.
However, my favourite ever (that I obviously didn’t draft) was a lawyer who left the bulk of his estate (millions in today’s dollars) to whatever Toronto-area woman had the most children at a specific date some years in the future. I recall the winner had 10.
Image source: PirateRobotNinjaofDe, Piron Guillaume
#34
My grandfather saved his kidney stone so that he could leave it to my cousin. They never really got along.
Image source: [deleted], Wikimedia.Commons
#35
Not a lawyer but my mom put in her will that if she dies under suspicious circumstances that my sister and I won’t be left anything. She watches a lot of true crime.
Image source: staying_incognito87, cottonbro
#36
“No, ma’am, in order to bequeath something, you actually have to own it.”
Image source: Michaeldim1
#37
We had a client who was a widowed farmer who owned several heavy equipment (Caterpillar trucks, etc). He had two sons who were already working with him at the farm and a daughter who was working in the city. He willed the heavy equipment to the daughter, when asked why since these equipment were essential to the farm. He said that the farm was to go his kids equally but his girl needed to know he always wanted her to join their venture and dispel her notions of alienation because she was a girl.
Image source: nerdychick19, Andrea Piacquadio
#38
Saw this answer from a similar question some time ago. When a dad died he set up financial installments so long as his daughter remains under a certain weight. Dude was controlling her diet from the grave.
Image source: [deleted], Pixabay
#39
My vindictive grandmother left my aunt $20 as a reminder of the $20 my aunt stole from her once.
Image source: [deleted], Joshua Hoehne
#40
Not a lawyer, but an estate planning paralegal for many years. I’ve read, drafted or executed thousands of wills and trusts with clients. My first nitpicky comment is that the common belief that lawyers actually assemble the whole family and hold a “reading of the will” is entirely a construct of TV. You would never sit there and just read a will to people; it’s mostly a bunch of legalese about bonds and payment of taxes and the powers of the executor. Only a very small portion of the will actually pertains to distributions, and in many cases it’s just a paragraph stating that everything goes to the spouse if living, otherwise equally to the kids (or to the trust, which then says it all goes to spouse-then-kids.)
Believe it or not, they’re usually pretty mundane. When strings are attached, it’s usually just parents trying to make sure their kids go to college or they get a smaller distribution, or just have to wait longer to get their money. People who don’t have kids usually name about 2 dozen beneficiaries, which is cumbersome and annoying, especially since a lot of times they don’t even have much money to divide. People with kids almost always just leave the money to them equally.
Probably the most f**ked-up thing I’ve seen is a couple different clients who included provisions to disinherit kids and grandkids if they married a black person. That’s their prerogative, and we’ll serve them professionally, but we tended not to get too cozy or chatty at those signings, unlike with many of the nice clients with whom we would become friendly. Just get ’em in, get ’em out in those cases.
Image source: Spyder_J, Anna Shvets
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