Collaborative Post
When it comes to our wills, we often leave our money and worldly belongings to the most obvious of people – our spouses, our children, perhaps our parents. The odd bequest may go to a friend or a carer or another relative but that’s usually the way wills go, right? For instance I know that if anything was to happen to my mum, everything in her will goes to me and my Dad would get her life insurance payout. That is pretty much what Steve and I have decided too – Jack and baby girl (and any future children) would be beneficiaries of our wills, we’d just be in charge of the funds if they were under the age of 18. Obviously we hope that nothing happens and we haven’t actually written our wills yet – although they are on the urgent to do list – but its best to be prepared and know exactly what you want from your will and who you want to benefit.
Something that is becoming increasingly common though is pets being named as beneficiaries of wills. The Lawhouse wills and probate lawyer have created a fantastic infographic showing the pets who were named as beneficiaries of rather large amounts. £90m left to a dog seems crazy, doesn’t it? But the countess obviously felt that Gunther III was the only person/pet she could leave her money to – and then he passed away, passing it onto his pup!
As well as talking about the highest paid pets, some random inheritances have also been mentioned – imagine how you would have felt to be one of those 70 random strangers from the Lisbon phonebook. Or imagine maintaining a mansion for decades because of the deceased’s belief of reincarnation.
Whilst most wills are pretty much straight forward in the grand scheme of things, these certainly are a little stranger than perhaps what we are used to. Although the will that took 19 years to settle in the UK probably wasn’t all that straight forward, was it?
Making a will is so important though and it should be on everyone’s list of things to do once they turn 18, especially if they have children. Steve and I have no excuse and we will definitely need to get ours sorted sooner rather than later. Would you ever consider leaving all your worldly belongings to your pet – or perhaps even random strangers out of the phonebook?