September 14, 2019 • 39 mins
Whether it's oral, scrawled in blood or signed on a deathbed everyone should have a will. But how do they actually work? Join Chuck and Josh as they explain that "of sound mind" thing in this classic episode.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, everybody, it's your old pal and trusted confidante Josh
and for this week's s Y s K selects, I've
chosen How Wills Work to Die in the Wool example
of a classic Stuff You Should Know episode where we
did our absolute best to find the most interesting stuff
about a seemingly boring topic. Plus it's chock full of
(00:21):
helpful legal advice issued by a pair of decidedly non
lawyers us at any rate, I hope you enjoy it,
Take care of Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a
production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and
(00:43):
welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as
always is Charles W. Chuck Chucker, Chuck Tran, Brian Chuck
trans so weird to me, I don't get it. Yeah,
I have no recollection of where that came from. Are no? Wait?
It was from a show though, Yeah, you didn't just
make that up, not just now, No, it was there
was It was in relation to something we were talking
(01:04):
about at the time. Someone It made sense once, okay, um,
I was on our Facebook page. I was looking for
discussions like sometimes I like to go on and read
like what's your favorite line? Did you ever. Have you
ever read this? It's like a trip down memory lane. Really. Yeah,
there's like whole discussion threats. There's like forty different threats
people have created. But there was one that was like,
(01:25):
what's what's your favorite stuff you should know line of
all time? And I can't I can't find that thread
any longer. It was a good one. Did you go
through and count on how many you had and how
many I had? I did not count. I kept a
running tally, but I didn't count just mentally. I didn't
write anything down as it as it were. Chuck. Yes,
nineteen seventy nine was a pretty good year for movies. Yeah, sure,
(01:46):
allow me. That year the Muppet movie came out, Creamer
Versus Kramer was number one at the box office. One
of my personal favorites Amityville Horror, the first one, the
nineteen nine one m what do you Allen's Manhattan the Jerk.
That's my favorite all time movie. Manhattan is I've not
seen it? What I have not? Okay? The Jerk is awesome?
(02:10):
Oh wait, the Jerk or Manhattan? I said Manhattan. You said,
uh huh, yeah, Manhattan. I was just I was changing
the subject. Okay, all right. I like the Jerk, Alien,
Rocky Too, Alien so far ahead of its time, Moonraker
so behind the times. But none of these held a
candle too in my opinion. Overlooked movie by director Michael
(02:33):
Schultz a classic called Scavenger Hunt. Really have you ever
seen it? No, you've not seen Scavenger Hunt? Uh? No?
Was it kind of a riff on? It's a mad, mad,
mad mad world. I can see how some maybe some
uh elitists might make that distinction or that that um comparison.
(02:53):
Okay um. I personally think that it's a great movie
and it's about vin and Price. While it begins, Vincent Price,
is this aged video game magnet? Was he ever young? No?
He was born like gold and gray. Yeah, and suave,
though he was much more suave than he led on. Um,
(03:15):
he is dying and he actually does die playing one
of his video games. And then you cut to the
his his former home, and his lawyer is executing a
will which his stated worth two million dollars. And it
turns out we learned very quickly as all the characters assemble,
that the whole thing is up for grabs to a
single team who go on a scavenger Hunt. Did you
(03:38):
really see this or is this just I grew up
on this one? Okay, Yeah, that's a great movie. Have
you really not seen it? No, I've never heard of it.
I strongly recommend it, and I found it just to
get myself in the mood. I found it on YouTube
and parts I think eleven parts, like ten minutes segments.
So if you're a very cheap person um or can't
find it, it's up on YouTube. Sweet. I think if
(03:59):
you search um Scavenger Hunt and then in parentheses nine,
it'll it'll bring it up. Awesome. So the whole point
of that was that number one, scaveng John is a
good movie, and number two people do some wacky things
with wills. That scenario wasn't that far off from things
that people have done with their wills. We're talking about wheels, Chuck.
(04:21):
Let's get ready to talk about contract law. I know
this is one of the first articles I wrote, and
it was a little rigid, but there's not a lot
you can do. I mean, try to make it a
little fun in the end. But I was fully planning
on complimenting you on this article. It's a good article,
it's comprehensive, it's got everything you need. I mean, you
don't get into like any of the legal mamo jumbo,
but that's not the role of the site. And you
(04:43):
know what, let's just go ahead and say, I'm glad
you brought that up. We are not attorneys. You should
not take this podcast and base your will and life
on Please do not do that. No, but that being said,
you can get um all the documents you need to
create your own will for six dollars and cents at Staples. Really. Huh, yeah,
they have everything. Well, that brings up one of the
(05:04):
first points, which is a will isn't super complicated to
draw up, um, and it varies from state to state,
so you can do it yourself, but you should get
an attorney to look over things. But if you want
to save a few bucks, you can always go to Staples. Well, well,
we should probably say that again and again through this
this podcast, as you did again and again through this article, Like, really,
(05:24):
you should have at the very least an attorney look
at your will if you're gonna do it yourself. Right, Um,
let's talk about some of the specifics. Man. If if
you are um, if you have ten minutes to write
this thing a piece of paper and a pen. What
are the high points that you want to hit to
make your will as close to legal as possible? And
by the way, state law governs wills, right, yeah, And
(05:48):
you always got to check with your state and if
you if you want to call it up and be like, state,
I got some questions for you. And if you have
a will in one state and you move, it'll it'll
still be valid. But you still should check your state's
laws and stuff like that, right, Because is it the
state you die in that is the state that you
execute your your will is executed in? Jeez, because it
seems like if you were going to move, it would
(06:09):
seem like that's the way it would go. I guess. So,
but what if you you die on vacation Hawaii? Is
your will wouldn't be based on I think. I think
it's pertains to the state in which it was drafted
and approved. Check with your lawyer. Check with your lawyer,
or at least call the state. I didn't think you'd
stop me so early, all right, So what you want
to have, at the very bare minimum is your name,
(06:30):
your spouse's name if you have one, and when you
were married, yeah, your your children's names so they can
make sure they're not confusing you your other spouse with
your spouse in the will. That's right, Um, your children's
names and I love this part. How you want any
step children or false foster children to be treated? You
could be like, well, yeah, please treat them well. Um,
a statement revoking any other wills if you have one, Um,
(06:54):
you gotta name your executor and an alternate. You should
name an alternate list of powers that you want that
executive or to have special gifts, personal property and uh.
Instructions for distributing paying debts. There are actually you know,
you can't decide whether or not you want to pay
your debts, but after debt has been paid, how you
want your stuff to be doled out? So I'm officially
(07:16):
founding a movement that if your debtors can't get the
money they need out of you while you're alive, that's that. Yeah,
didn't you look that up? What's the what's the law? Well,
the for it varies by state again, um, but generally,
if you have enough money to pay, say like a
credit card debt, you have to pay that credit card debt.
(07:39):
But there there are um, there are onuses on credit
card companies like they have to notify your executor um
within like sixty days or something of this outstanding debt
um and if it turns out that there's not enough money,
then you can basically say like, sorry, that's that, and
the credit card company has to write it off and
(08:00):
then we all pay for it with our outrageous financing fees.
In the end um burial instructions. You can sometimes put
it in a will, but you should burial. I just
got thick tongue, didn't burial And you probably want those
somewhere else though, because sometimes the will isn't like immediately
accessible if you've got it locked in a safe in
your family does another combination, they're they're gonna lead you
(08:23):
laying around on the floor for days. You don't need
to sweat your pension plan or life insurance or annuity
stuff like that because that's all taken care of they
the beneficiary or in those documents, so it doesn't need
to be in your will, right, and it can actually
screw things up, right, not screw things up. It can
slow things down because you can say I I want this,
you know, my life insurance policy to go to my
(08:45):
estate and then divvy it up, but that just adds
a lot more time to the process. Correct. Absolutely, Um,
you should probably in most states have to be at
least eighteen years old to have a legal will, and
you have to everyone knows you have to be of
sound mind and body or I think it's just sound mind, yeah,
because I mean, what does your body of do with?
As long as you can make an X or you know,
(09:07):
draw a whale like quick wag, you're fine. So what
does uh, what does that mean legally speaking? Mentally? Um? Sound? Well,
I'm glad that you brought that up, or I'm glad
that you put this in the article because I think
it's a good idea. Basically, you have to know that
you own property. You have to know about it, right.
If you don't know that you have like a hundred
(09:28):
acres in Montana, then you're not probably a sound mind.
Or you did at one time know that you had
it and just don't remember any longer. That that could
be a problem as well. If you're not it is
it's it's kind of said to not be of sound mind. Um,
if you're not suffering from a mental illness, which I
remember I saw a remake of Psycho which wasn't psycho
(09:49):
to It was made for TV, and it was kind
of a spoof comedy. And the thing starts with the
execution of Norman Bates will and it gets to the
point where it says, I Norman eights being of sound mind,
and everybody in the rooms like. But it kind of
brings up a point like, what do you do if
you are mentally ill and you have a bunch of
assets and you've never created a will and you want
(10:11):
to create when you just do you die in testing?
That's a good question into state. I do know that, Uh,
if you become mentally ill later on, then it doesn't
matter as long as you have a sound mind when
you first wrote the will, right, okay, um. You also
need to be aware of the people who are related
to you again, like, not like you fathered a kid
(10:34):
back in nineteen sixty two that you didn't know about.
That's not what they're talking about. They're talking about the
kid that you had nineteen sixty two and raised into
an adulthood is still recognizable to you. And also, you
generally probably shouldn't hold conversations with lapper cons that tell
you to burn things, right, that's usually a big red
flag that you might not be a sound mind. That's right,
(10:55):
so chuck that sound mine. Um, and let's say you've
got that check check check. You know about your land
and Montana, you know your kid's name. Um, you you
don't suffer from mental illness, and you are ready to
create your will? All right? Boom the executor. Yes, that
is the most important person in your will, because that
(11:17):
is the person that is gonna make an inventory of
all your junk. Um, they're gonna pay your debts. They're
legitimate debts. That is not vinny who comes over and
says you will meet although you may want to pay
that too if you're smart. Um distributes the assets under
the terms of the will. So it can be anybody,
but you want it to be someone you really really trust.
(11:40):
Someone who's probably pretty smart, maybe has a little business experience,
and someone who is thoughtful because you can get ugly.
You want someone this is a tough time for a
family usually, and you want someone that's got some a
good bedside manner if they're going to execute your will, right,
not some jerk. Right. You also want somebody who has
(12:03):
a lot of time to go to your house and
inventory stuff. I remember when I found out my sister
is my dad's executive tricks um, And I was like,
what about me? And I read about all that. Okay,
you're just like cut me the check. Yeah, I actually
think my dad likes me more than I thought, now
that I know what an executive executive has to do,
let you off the hook. Yeah. Well, now we're on
(12:25):
the road, driving in your truck. Want to learn a
thing or two from Josh Man, Chuck. Stuff you should know?
All right, that's why sks good. But you should know, so, Chuck,
(12:52):
let's talk about the different kinds of wills. Right. There's
obviously the standard like ironclad will, it's been drafted by
an attorney or whatever. She'll talk about a second. But
there's some kind of interesting wills because death doesn't necessarily happen,
um when you're counting on it, exactly. That should be this,
That should be stuff you should know as new model,
the new slogan, death doesn't happen when you're counting on it.
(13:15):
Death doesn't necessarily happen when you're counting on Just to
add the extra, I like it a bit of suspense. Um.
So you're talking about probably, um, a couple of things
one can be an oral will, which is a lot
of times in the in the old days, and it
might still happen because soldiers are still very young and
might not think that they need a will because they're
young and their bulletproof. But a lot of times soldiers
(13:36):
on the battlefield would execute an oral well to their
buddy there as their dying in the trenches. You want
to do too, buddies, oh to two witnesses. Yeah, that
definitely helps the helps the case that it's legal. Yeah,
and the in the scenario I just mentioned, which is
the the dying soldier on the battlefield, is one of
the more common ways that an oral will will be
(13:58):
upheld because I imagine they have a lot of compassion
for something like that. Yeah, And um, if they can
find your your buddies and get them to sign an affidavit,
or they can actually come to probate court and say, yes,
this is what he said. He said to leave it
all to me. Yeah, no, he said to leave it
all to me. Then it turns ugly. But if they
both agree that it is what you said, then um,
(14:19):
it's probably going to stand up in court. Right. So
what's a deathbed will? A deathbed will is virtually the
same thing, but say, rather than dying young and being
of sound mind, you might be on your deathbed and
are suffering from Alzheimer's or something like that, so the
deathbed will UM. It also can be written to it's
more of like the time rather than the type right um,
(14:40):
so the the it can be written, It can be oral,
and you can have several witnesses, but it's also the
most commonly challenged one because mental capacity is frequently argued,
like this person didn't know what they were talking about,
or somebody you know had their feeding too kinks, so
they did it under durest you know. Yeah. Uh, there
(15:00):
is a holographic wheel Josh, very informal handwritten. Usually this
is the coolest looking will. That's right, it's not a hologram. Uh.
Not all states recognize these as valid um, so as
always check with your state. But scenario where this might
happen is you wreck your car on a snowy road
in the middle of nowhere and you're like, I'm gonna
(15:22):
die and I'm gonna scratch out my will, or you
pee it into the snow that would be awesome, or
if you're James Franco or that real dude and you're
stuck in a and a boulder. You could probably videotape it,
although I think holographic is strictly handwritten. Yeah, so that
would be an oral deathbed will sort of commonly written
(15:44):
in blood, but he lived one's own blood. Um. Yeah,
that's that's a pretty cool one. I said it was cool. Yes, yeah,
I think that's the coolest one that you think. So, yeah,
the the impending death by oneself? Yeah, yeah, and you
just scratch it out and whatever paper you have and
then succume to the elements. I think it's neat because
think about it, you're thinking about the people you love
(16:07):
and in some way they're there with you. Right then. Yeah,
but what if you're saying, I don't want to leave
any of those no good uh never do wells anything, Well,
then you deserve to freeze to death. Okay. Uh, there's
the d I y will which you mentioned. You can
get um on the internet or I guess it Staples.
You can get the forms. Self probating wills can save
you a little time. Well, this is the ironclad will, right,
(16:28):
I think so, so this is the one where you
hire a lawyer to draft it. At the very least
review it. But probably you've hired a lawyer to draft
your will a couple hundred bucks from what I understand. Um,
and the the witnesses sign affidavits ahead of time that
are part of the will, saying like, yes, this guy
did say this, so you don't have to These witnesses
(16:50):
don't have to appear in probate court to testify that
this is the correct will. So it expedites the whole process.
It makes it more difficult to challenge. And basically it's
the butt of boom butt of being of wills. Don't
contest me, baby, is what it says at the bottom. Uh.
And since we're talking about contesting and changing that happens
all the time, totally illegal. The only person that can
(17:12):
change a will is the test to tour. Why is
that funny? That's like Hodgment says complain ant and defend
ant and Judge John Hodgment. So the test it tour
is the only person that can do this. It's very
common a lot of reasons. You might have a new kid,
you might get divorced, you might get married, you might
start hating your kid, might start hating your kid. The
(17:35):
tax laws might change in your favors. You can tweak
it a bit. H You might all of a sudden,
you might win the lottery and think, oh, you know what,
I might want to rethink how my will has read
at this point. Or you might just feel like, you
know what, I'm kind of old and my kids are
doing okay, so I'd rather just leave my money to
some great charities. That's a nice thing to do. Yeah,
Bill Kates, he's leaving the line sheriff his though to charity.
(17:57):
Oh yeah, while he's alive. Even tried. Um And okay,
So let's say that your your elderly parent dies and
you decide that, um, he or she is obviously crazy
because he or she left his or her money to charity. Right, right,
You can challenge this, right, that's right, and there are
(18:18):
a number of ways to challenge it. But it's that's
it's first of all, it's a very difficult, long and
expensive process. Unless you have like real solid evidence of
one of maybe several points that that could possibly overturn
a will, it's gonna be you're not gonna win, and
not anyone can challenge like no Schmo off the street,
(18:40):
or like let's say you I couldn't challenge your will
and say but Josh was my podcast partner. I'm saying,
you know, it doesn't matter. I don't know. You could
technically be a person of legal standing, which is what
you have to be to challenge it will. You either
have to be someone who is in the will and
you're challenging it like I got reem. This is terrible.
I want more money and that's what is your problem.
(19:01):
But you can't challenge on fairness. I mean, you can
do it, but you won't win. Thank you for correcting me. Um.
You could be like somebody was holding this guy's feeding too.
You know this is because so that's when you can challenge.
Or you could be someone who should have been in
the will e g. A podcaster. I would think it's
usually a family member, though you probably have to be
a I would blood relative, blood or maybe marriage. But
(19:22):
I'm sure if you're a blood relative, it helps make you. Um,
it helps your position as a person of legal stand anymore.
I'm gonna challenge your will like when we're in our eighties,
and this is gonna be like some sort of proof
that I agree you should be a person of legal
standing at least will be like the Sunshine Boys, like
we haven't spoken in thirty years, and like our children
are trying to get us together for a more show.
Yeah did you ever see that? No, that's a good one,
(19:43):
but I laughed anyway. All right, um, and by the way,
I'm leaving all my stuff to you me so you
can challenge it all you want, pal, but I just
contradicted your challenge and this is going to stand up.
And you know, because this is a very public I
would think that this would work. Yeah, I wouldn't challenge.
I mean, she can have it all, Okay, she can
have your junk, So a good junk. If you do,
you do, Josh, have a good junk. Um. If you
(20:04):
do challenge it, um, which you're gonna, you can either
rewrite it completely, revoke the original, or add something called
a codicil to your existing will. It's just like an addendum. Basically.
Oh that's if you want to change your will. But
if you want to challenge it, well, well there's going
to turn out so right the will is forged this
one um that it didn't meet the requirements of the state,
(20:27):
Like maybe the state requires two witnesses and there's only one. Um,
it didn't. Uh, the person was coerced the testator, right,
it was coerced with the kink in the feeding too. Um,
the tested term was a victim of fraud. What would
that be? I don't know. Um, like maybe the person
(20:47):
who drew up the will wasn't really a lawyer but
charged lawyer's fee oradeah. Okay. And then lastly, the beneficiary
doesn't improve the executor. And this could be like the
executors maybe the fraudulent attorney. Yeah, it couldn't. It can't
just be like she borrowed my pearl necklace once and
never gave it back. There's no way she can execute
(21:08):
this estate. Right. And I didn't get stats, but the
general feeling I get is that wills are pretty tough
to overturn unless, like you said, there's some pretty blatant
egregious errors or fraud going on. And if and if
it is rejected, then they just go to the state law,
which is, you know, your wife gets this percentage, your
firstborn gets this percentage, and on down the line. Okay,
(21:31):
And that's as if you had died without a will.
That's how they treat it, which is called dying intestate. Yeah.
I never heard that word. Okay, so let's say that
you um, let's say that you really your kid. It
just really turns out to be a jerk. You did
everything you could, but you just don't like your kid.
You nurtured, you nurtured, you nurtured, and then natured one out.
(21:52):
It's like Sean Penn in the game before you went
through the game. Oh yeah, like that kind of guy. Okay,
all right, Okay, you can cut your kid out of
the will, but there's you have to follow a specific guideline.
And that guideline is you officially have to disinherit your kid. Yeah,
and I'm surprised it's it's easier to write your child
(22:13):
out of your will than your spouse. Yeah. And you
you you brought the child into the world, you married
the spouse. I was surprised by that too, Chuck. Yeah, you,
like you said, you disinherit a child for unless you
have some sort of ironclad pre nup, then your spouse
husband or wife is gonna be um, gonna be getting
some dough a half. Generally is the is the way
(22:35):
to go. Um. So, spouses are tough. Kids are easy, right,
but um, most lawyers will be like don't do that.
Do not just disinherit, and don't try to cut your
spouse out. It's gonna make you look like a jerk.
It's going to make a judge overturn your will. Here's
what you do. You give them each fifty cents. Okay, right,
(22:56):
pretty horrible, Right? That didn't make you look like a jerk, No,
it doesn't. But you put in an into rum clause
that says that if they challenge the will, that they
forfeit everything. And you know what that means in Latin,
it means in order to frighten. So basically it's saying,
you know, it's trying to scare someone off right, So
the fifty cents thing wouldn't work, right, You want to
(23:16):
leave them enough so that they are they they're gonna
have what they need, but they're still offended, like exactly right,
So like they're like, well, I could buy five tho
dollars with a crack with that five thousand dollars, maybe
I should just stick with this, you know. Yeah, divorce
can complicate things. Obviously, some states renders the will invalid,
(23:37):
but most times just the parts where the spouses in
there will be addressed. So the bequest is what the
people get. The beneficiaries are the people who get bequests.
Actually figured out like a pretty good sentence to explain
all this. The beneficiary receives a bequest from the testator's
will in probate court at the behest of the executor.
(23:59):
So however, thank you m hm. So the the beneficiaries
(24:25):
are all going to get slapped with what is called
a death tax. Really it's called in the state tax,
but opponents of the estate tax, the rich um basically
created this other name for it called the death tax,
which is like you're being taxed to die. You're not
actually being taxed to die. Your estates not even being taxed.
Your beneficiaries bequests are what are taxed. The thing is,
(24:50):
it's a lot, you know what. I call it, one
final little from the government from uncle saying like, you
paid your whole life, you paid your whole life, you
died on the battlefield, and then we're going to get
some more tax and it's hefty. Yeah. Well, I mean,
part of the reason why the estate taxes around is
to prevent dynasties from taking place. But the problem is
(25:14):
with all of the loopholes tax shelters that kind of stuff. Um,
the rich are the only ones who can afford to
get around from paying estate taxes, So that kind of
goes under the middle class and prevents middle class dynasties
from being formed. But you know, it's really weird. What
I cannot describe to you how severe the level of
(25:36):
deja vu I have right now is have we had
a conversation about the state taxes in that same vein
I don't think so. But we've done a podcast on
deja vu. Well, then prepare for some really vitriolic listener
mail from that one, because in my deja vu memory, Yeah,
that ticked people off. What because you said that only
(25:57):
the rich people can know about these loopholes, Well, they
can afford accountants that can figure out these loopholes, lawyers
that kind of things, like you ain't gonna get that
at the Staples package. No, No, it actually says good
luck with the decks death taxes, pal doesn't so chuck. Um.
If if you are a person living in I think
two thousand six in the United States, and you inherited
(26:20):
over ten thousand fifty dollars, what did you pay five
close to three grand? That's just that that's just for
inheriting ten thousand and fifty one dollars, right, yeah, well
that's the base thing. Then you have to pay an
additional thirty five percent over and above the ten thousand
(26:41):
fifty dollars. So let me ask you that is that
thirty five percent on the whole thing or thirty percent
and the whole thing minus ten thousand and fifty dollars.
It's a good question, and I don't know, and I'm
sure some smart attorney will say, here's how it is. God.
But if you're inheriting a million dollars, who cares? Yeah,
well that's a lot of change. Though, if it's like
Bucks right on ten thousand, yes, Josh, you're indeed right
(27:04):
a million bucks? Who cares? So there's the death taxes.
You can set up a trust. That is one good
way to UM maybe pay fewer taxes UM. If smart
people often set up trust, rich people often set up trust. Well,
it also keeps your UM. You don't have to be
rich though, I've looked into trust. About too grand to
set up a trust? Yeah, yeah, it's UM And this
(27:25):
number one, it's it's very speedy. It keeps it out
of probate court, Like when you die, you're dying wishes
that are a part of your will that are incorporated
into this trust. That's that right, right, Um, so all
of the stuff gets divvied up right away. It stays
out of court. Yeah. And if you have a minor
in your family, a lot of times you'll set up
a trust, because if you don't set up a trust,
(27:46):
the court is going to assign or there will be
a conservator who will oversee the assets of the minor
and I think eighteen to twenty one generally in most states,
as when a minor can all of a sudden handle
their own fine answers. But if you set up a trust,
it's managed by the trust store and they'll handle it
for your kid. Yeah, whoever that person is, I would
(28:09):
imagine someone just as trustworthy is the executor, maybe one
and the same, You're right, and then Chuck. Of course,
there is the living will, right yeah, And there's a
whole article on living wills, but so we won't get
into it too specifically, but a living will has nothing
to do with your money's and properties. It is, um. Hey,
if I'm ever in a serious accident and I'm on
(28:30):
a ventilator, here's how I would like my um, I
would like you to pull the plug or not pull
the plug. And it's more complicated than that. Yeah, because
that's like that's line one. And the line too is
if I'm ever attacked by a dog and I need
a heart that's coming, that's that my family can afford take,
you know, pull the plug and then down the line right, Yeah,
(28:51):
and these need to be signed and witnessed, and power
of attorney is usually included because if you can't cover
every scenario obviously, and the power of attorney would be
let's say, you know what, I want Emily to be
in charge of making this decision and not my mom,
let's say, because my mom would be like, no, he'll
pull through and Emily be like, yeah, he doesn't look
(29:12):
too good. She wouldn't do that. I'm just kidding. It's
still funny, but yeah, a living will is very important
though for anyone of any age. UM, it can get
real messy. We've seen it in the news time and
time again. Uh So yeah, get your living will taken
care of. And I think you can also just do
like a blanket, like, don't don't take any heroic measures
(29:33):
to save me and I don't want to be on
any kind of life support mine mine says, do never
ever unplug me. Really, I want to be a burden
on my family for the rest of my life, as
long as that machine can keep me alive. I want
to be shaved once a week from top to bottom.
All Right. That segways nicely into odd things that can
(29:55):
happen stipulations with your will? Nice Is that how we
should finish up? Yeah, totally. You can have requirements of
your big quest stores. No, the beneficiaries and officiaries like, hey,
this article. I know it was a long time ago.
Um Like, hey, I want I want to give my
son the majority of my fortune, but he's got a
(30:17):
finish college first. Or quit smoking. I saw thinking of
me when you wrote that. That was not you were
smoking a ton back then, though, yes you were. Um, So,
let's talk about some funny and and odd things in
history with wills. Josh finished on a lighter note. Well,
there's Portuguese aristocrat Luis Carlos de Norona Coporal the Camara.
(30:42):
That's terrible, and that sounded like I took a bite
of peanut butter towards the end. Do you want to
do that? One. Well, I'll now that you said his name, Um,
I'll tell you what he did. He picked seventy so
you don't want to try that one. He picked seventies strangers,
random strangers from a phone book in lisbon and at
thirteen years before he died and said, these are the people,
but don't tell him. It's going to be just a
(31:03):
big surprise. Yeah. And some people thought they were being
conned if I did that and I died, everybody there
be um seventies strangers each getting a one dollar bill.
But I put in my will that it had to
be like crisp from the bank never circulated one dollar
bills that make them feel good. I thought, you're gonna
say it like a roller quarters or something that's another
(31:23):
way to go, but that's more than a dollar. Yeah,
you're right, Um McNair ill. Grin Fritz was a unsuccessful
but wealthy composer, and he said, you know what, Metropolitan
Opera of New York, I'll leave you a hundred and
five grand if after I die, you put on this
opera I've I've written. And the met said, yeah, we
could use that money, but no thanks, which is like ouch, yeah,
(31:47):
but they said the music. It was workable. This is
not not like they said, this is awful. I think
I guess it just wasn't in their plan. Um. Who else, Josh,
who else do we have here? Ony Nermi? Yeah, finished, businessman,
This is this is my favorite one. Um. He apparently,
late in life, made some friends at the rest home
where he was dying, and died, I imagine, and he said,
(32:10):
you know what, I'm gonna leave everybody here. Uh, seven
and eighty shares of a rubber boot company that I
imagine I had something to do with at some point. Um.
And that rubber boot company went on to become cell
phone giant Nokia, and all of those people became millionaires.
I imagine all of those people's children or grandchildren became millionaires,
(32:32):
because I don't think Nocchia went from a boot company
to the cell phone biz like overnight. Um, but it
was still very nice. This is a good story if
you ask me, H, these are pretty cool, Josh. Um
ed Headrick the inventor. Um, well, I'm not the inventor
of the frisbee, but he's credited with perfecting the modern frisbee.
(32:53):
He wanted to be. He took it out of its
original Squareship exactly. He worked for WAMO, obviously, and he
said he know what, I want my ashes to be
molded into memorial versions of the Frisbee and sell those
and use the money from those to open up at
Frisbee Museum. And then another guy, a Marvel comic writer,
Mark Gruenwald, said, I would like my ashes to be
(33:14):
mixed with ink and be on a comic book. And
when he died young at forty two, there were four
thousand inc and Ashes issues of Squadron Supreme printed. Yeah,
wouldn't you be disappointed if that was the one you
got printed in? Well? That was probably it was probably
his comic though I still want to be in The Punished, Okay,
(33:35):
I want to be in a better comic. And who
else Dusty Springfield? Shall we mention her? Hers just kind
of eat. I guess it's kind of silly. She had
a cat name Nicholas, and Nicks had a favorite meal,
which was imported baby food. So she left the singer
of Son of a Preacher man Um. She said, you
know what, Um, Nicholas is gonna lay on my nightgown
(33:58):
for the rest of nicklas Is life, and my music
is going to be played and lifetime supply that cat
food for Nicklas. Yeah. And then Leona Helmsley fifteen million
to her dog for the care of her dog. You
can't actually leave money to an animal. Yeah, you can
like stipulate in your will that this money is for
(34:18):
the care of this animal or right. And she left
her a couple of grandkids nothing and then yeah, and
then there was the There was the tree that owns
itself in Athens. The elderly couple that died or the
elderly woman that died and left this piece of land
apparently set up a trust for the tree so that
it can never be cut down or removed. And actually,
(34:40):
if you drive along the street, you have to go
around the roundabout that just built around the tree that
owns itself. It's got a little placard and a little
chain around it. Yea. And that tree grows up to
the center of city Hall. And that tree grew up
to be roy Comb. I got nothing else. I don't either.
If you want to read a fine article and by
a young strapping Charles W. Bryant, when he first came
(35:04):
to how Stuff Works dot com, just type how wills
work into the handy search bar at how stuff works
dot Com that of course brings up listener mail. All right, Josh,
I know you're gonna balk at this because we have
another request from a boyfriend trying to get his girl. No, no, no,
I feel so bad for Timmy though. Alright, alright, Timmy
(35:25):
before we read this, dude, if you don't get back
in touch with us and let us know what happened,
we will find you. Yeah, you're dead to me, even
though we can't find the other guy, we will find
you to me since too. Yeah, and since we mentioned
it other guy who we proposed, we don't like you anymore.
Just what happened there, dude. People are clamoring to know. Alright,
to my beloved Josh and Chuck and Jerry since two
(35:47):
thousand nine, Uh, let me skip ahead to the interesting party. Um,
Jerry's cracking up today. Guys have been a big fan
since two thousand nine. One big thing that has changed
since that time was I found an absolutely brilliant girlfriend.
She also loves you, guys. We would spend our nights
together falling asleep listening stuff. You should know. She would
(36:10):
fill me in on bits I missed. It sounds like
a very sweet thing. Unfortunately, recently we were having a
rough time of things, sort of lost perspective and the
spark faded. Uh, let me go ahead and tell you, Timmy,
do the spark like that. Spark always fades. You gotta
have something else going on there. Substantial Model Airplanes is
a good one. So we both am amicably agreed that
(36:32):
it would be easier to split after eighteen months together.
And the best thing we both do the same university.
We are have the same courses at times. He must
be English or something. We still chat a lot and
I really miss her though, and I know she misses
me too. You don't know that, Timmy. You're about to
find out we were great together and just needed this
(36:54):
time apart to sort out our heads and commit back
to one another. What I would like to do, guys,
is for you to say to Elaine, would you please
get back with Timmy? Go back out with him. He's
boyfriend again. I'm sorry girlfriend. I know she'll be listening.
It would be a great way of me showing her
how much I still care. Or you could just talk
(37:15):
to her that's that's another thing, or that he's watching her.
I don't think I'll do any more of these. Um,
I love her, I want to spend my future with her.
I would be really grateful for this. So that's the deal, Timmy.
It says much love Elaine. Take him back or don't.
Either way, Timmy, Please let us know what happens so
(37:38):
we can follow up and tell people what happened with
the Timmy Elne soccer and that is it. That is
as dead as Haiku and disco. We're not doing that anymore,
never again. No, all right, agreed? Okay, thanks a lot, Timmy.
Good luck to you forever. All right, Um, Chuck, are
you okay with that? No, I'm fine, because it just
(38:00):
gets out of hand and then you know, we're asking
people out on a first date all of a sudden,
and hey, can you tell my friend Joe to pick
up the tab every now and then? You know, it's
just it's I'm okay with that one. Okay, Yeah, that's fine.
You know how I feel about freeloaders. All right, Well,
then we're gonna let's call for that in the email. Um, now,
we'll do that something they'll send him anyway. Okay, all right,
(38:20):
So if you know a story about a crazy will
crazy stipulation in a will I love that. I can't
get enough of them, so let's hear him, right, Yeah,
real ones are you? Yeah? Well yeah, I don't make
them up. Jerks, we want to hear it. You can
put it on Facebook, Stuff you Should Know, Facebook, Facebook
dot com, slash Stuff you Should Not s y s
(38:41):
K podcast. That's our Twitter handle, and you can send
us an email at stuff podcast at how stuff works
dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a production of
I Heart Radios. How Stuff Works from a podcasts for
my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
(39:03):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H m
hm
Hey, everybody, it's your old pal and trusted confidante Josh
and for this week's s Y s K selects, I've
chosen How Wills Work to Die in the Wool example
of a classic Stuff You Should Know episode where we
did our absolute best to find the most interesting stuff
about a seemingly boring topic. Plus it's chock full of
(00:21):
helpful legal advice issued by a pair of decidedly non
lawyers us at any rate, I hope you enjoy it,
Take care of Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a
production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and
(00:43):
welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as
always is Charles W. Chuck Chucker, Chuck Tran, Brian Chuck
trans so weird to me, I don't get it. Yeah,
I have no recollection of where that came from. Are no? Wait?
It was from a show though, Yeah, you didn't just
make that up, not just now, No, it was there
was It was in relation to something we were talking
(01:04):
about at the time. Someone It made sense once, okay, um,
I was on our Facebook page. I was looking for
discussions like sometimes I like to go on and read
like what's your favorite line? Did you ever. Have you
ever read this? It's like a trip down memory lane. Really. Yeah,
there's like whole discussion threats. There's like forty different threats
people have created. But there was one that was like,
(01:25):
what's what's your favorite stuff you should know line of
all time? And I can't I can't find that thread
any longer. It was a good one. Did you go
through and count on how many you had and how
many I had? I did not count. I kept a
running tally, but I didn't count just mentally. I didn't
write anything down as it as it were. Chuck. Yes,
nineteen seventy nine was a pretty good year for movies. Yeah, sure,
(01:46):
allow me. That year the Muppet movie came out, Creamer
Versus Kramer was number one at the box office. One
of my personal favorites Amityville Horror, the first one, the
nineteen nine one m what do you Allen's Manhattan the Jerk.
That's my favorite all time movie. Manhattan is I've not
seen it? What I have not? Okay? The Jerk is awesome?
(02:10):
Oh wait, the Jerk or Manhattan? I said Manhattan. You said,
uh huh, yeah, Manhattan. I was just I was changing
the subject. Okay, all right. I like the Jerk, Alien,
Rocky Too, Alien so far ahead of its time, Moonraker
so behind the times. But none of these held a
candle too in my opinion. Overlooked movie by director Michael
(02:33):
Schultz a classic called Scavenger Hunt. Really have you ever
seen it? No, you've not seen Scavenger Hunt? Uh? No?
Was it kind of a riff on? It's a mad, mad,
mad mad world. I can see how some maybe some
uh elitists might make that distinction or that that um comparison.
(02:53):
Okay um. I personally think that it's a great movie
and it's about vin and Price. While it begins, Vincent Price,
is this aged video game magnet? Was he ever young? No?
He was born like gold and gray. Yeah, and suave,
though he was much more suave than he led on. Um,
(03:15):
he is dying and he actually does die playing one
of his video games. And then you cut to the
his his former home, and his lawyer is executing a
will which his stated worth two million dollars. And it
turns out we learned very quickly as all the characters assemble,
that the whole thing is up for grabs to a
single team who go on a scavenger Hunt. Did you
(03:38):
really see this or is this just I grew up
on this one? Okay, Yeah, that's a great movie. Have
you really not seen it? No, I've never heard of it.
I strongly recommend it, and I found it just to
get myself in the mood. I found it on YouTube
and parts I think eleven parts, like ten minutes segments.
So if you're a very cheap person um or can't
find it, it's up on YouTube. Sweet. I think if
(03:59):
you search um Scavenger Hunt and then in parentheses nine,
it'll it'll bring it up. Awesome. So the whole point
of that was that number one, scaveng John is a
good movie, and number two people do some wacky things
with wills. That scenario wasn't that far off from things
that people have done with their wills. We're talking about wheels, Chuck.
(04:21):
Let's get ready to talk about contract law. I know
this is one of the first articles I wrote, and
it was a little rigid, but there's not a lot
you can do. I mean, try to make it a
little fun in the end. But I was fully planning
on complimenting you on this article. It's a good article,
it's comprehensive, it's got everything you need. I mean, you
don't get into like any of the legal mamo jumbo,
but that's not the role of the site. And you
(04:43):
know what, let's just go ahead and say, I'm glad
you brought that up. We are not attorneys. You should
not take this podcast and base your will and life
on Please do not do that. No, but that being said,
you can get um all the documents you need to
create your own will for six dollars and cents at Staples. Really. Huh, yeah,
they have everything. Well, that brings up one of the
(05:04):
first points, which is a will isn't super complicated to
draw up, um, and it varies from state to state,
so you can do it yourself, but you should get
an attorney to look over things. But if you want
to save a few bucks, you can always go to Staples. Well, well,
we should probably say that again and again through this
this podcast, as you did again and again through this article, Like, really,
(05:24):
you should have at the very least an attorney look
at your will if you're gonna do it yourself. Right, Um,
let's talk about some of the specifics. Man. If if
you are um, if you have ten minutes to write
this thing a piece of paper and a pen. What
are the high points that you want to hit to
make your will as close to legal as possible? And
by the way, state law governs wills, right, yeah, And
(05:48):
you always got to check with your state and if
you if you want to call it up and be like, state,
I got some questions for you. And if you have
a will in one state and you move, it'll it'll
still be valid. But you still should check your state's
laws and stuff like that, right, Because is it the
state you die in that is the state that you
execute your your will is executed in? Jeez, because it
seems like if you were going to move, it would
(06:09):
seem like that's the way it would go. I guess. So,
but what if you you die on vacation Hawaii? Is
your will wouldn't be based on I think. I think
it's pertains to the state in which it was drafted
and approved. Check with your lawyer. Check with your lawyer,
or at least call the state. I didn't think you'd
stop me so early, all right, So what you want
to have, at the very bare minimum is your name,
(06:30):
your spouse's name if you have one, and when you
were married, yeah, your your children's names so they can
make sure they're not confusing you your other spouse with
your spouse in the will. That's right, Um, your children's
names and I love this part. How you want any
step children or false foster children to be treated? You
could be like, well, yeah, please treat them well. Um,
a statement revoking any other wills if you have one, Um,
(06:54):
you gotta name your executor and an alternate. You should
name an alternate list of powers that you want that
executive or to have special gifts, personal property and uh.
Instructions for distributing paying debts. There are actually you know,
you can't decide whether or not you want to pay
your debts, but after debt has been paid, how you
want your stuff to be doled out? So I'm officially
(07:16):
founding a movement that if your debtors can't get the
money they need out of you while you're alive, that's that. Yeah,
didn't you look that up? What's the what's the law? Well,
the for it varies by state again, um, but generally,
if you have enough money to pay, say like a
credit card debt, you have to pay that credit card debt.
(07:39):
But there there are um, there are onuses on credit
card companies like they have to notify your executor um
within like sixty days or something of this outstanding debt
um and if it turns out that there's not enough money,
then you can basically say like, sorry, that's that, and
the credit card company has to write it off and
(08:00):
then we all pay for it with our outrageous financing fees.
In the end um burial instructions. You can sometimes put
it in a will, but you should burial. I just
got thick tongue, didn't burial And you probably want those
somewhere else though, because sometimes the will isn't like immediately
accessible if you've got it locked in a safe in
your family does another combination, they're they're gonna lead you
(08:23):
laying around on the floor for days. You don't need
to sweat your pension plan or life insurance or annuity
stuff like that because that's all taken care of they
the beneficiary or in those documents, so it doesn't need
to be in your will, right, and it can actually
screw things up, right, not screw things up. It can
slow things down because you can say I I want this,
you know, my life insurance policy to go to my
(08:45):
estate and then divvy it up, but that just adds
a lot more time to the process. Correct. Absolutely, Um,
you should probably in most states have to be at
least eighteen years old to have a legal will, and
you have to everyone knows you have to be of
sound mind and body or I think it's just sound mind, yeah,
because I mean, what does your body of do with?
As long as you can make an X or you know,
(09:07):
draw a whale like quick wag, you're fine. So what
does uh, what does that mean legally speaking? Mentally? Um? Sound? Well,
I'm glad that you brought that up, or I'm glad
that you put this in the article because I think
it's a good idea. Basically, you have to know that
you own property. You have to know about it, right.
If you don't know that you have like a hundred
(09:28):
acres in Montana, then you're not probably a sound mind.
Or you did at one time know that you had
it and just don't remember any longer. That that could
be a problem as well. If you're not it is
it's it's kind of said to not be of sound mind. Um,
if you're not suffering from a mental illness, which I
remember I saw a remake of Psycho which wasn't psycho
(09:49):
to It was made for TV, and it was kind
of a spoof comedy. And the thing starts with the
execution of Norman Bates will and it gets to the
point where it says, I Norman eights being of sound mind,
and everybody in the rooms like. But it kind of
brings up a point like, what do you do if
you are mentally ill and you have a bunch of
assets and you've never created a will and you want
(10:11):
to create when you just do you die in testing?
That's a good question into state. I do know that, Uh,
if you become mentally ill later on, then it doesn't
matter as long as you have a sound mind when
you first wrote the will, right, okay, um. You also
need to be aware of the people who are related
to you again, like, not like you fathered a kid
(10:34):
back in nineteen sixty two that you didn't know about.
That's not what they're talking about. They're talking about the
kid that you had nineteen sixty two and raised into
an adulthood is still recognizable to you. And also, you
generally probably shouldn't hold conversations with lapper cons that tell
you to burn things, right, that's usually a big red
flag that you might not be a sound mind. That's right,
(10:55):
so chuck that sound mine. Um, and let's say you've
got that check check check. You know about your land
and Montana, you know your kid's name. Um, you you
don't suffer from mental illness, and you are ready to
create your will? All right? Boom the executor. Yes, that
is the most important person in your will, because that
(11:17):
is the person that is gonna make an inventory of
all your junk. Um, they're gonna pay your debts. They're
legitimate debts. That is not vinny who comes over and
says you will meet although you may want to pay
that too if you're smart. Um distributes the assets under
the terms of the will. So it can be anybody,
but you want it to be someone you really really trust.
(11:40):
Someone who's probably pretty smart, maybe has a little business experience,
and someone who is thoughtful because you can get ugly.
You want someone this is a tough time for a
family usually, and you want someone that's got some a
good bedside manner if they're going to execute your will, right,
not some jerk. Right. You also want somebody who has
(12:03):
a lot of time to go to your house and
inventory stuff. I remember when I found out my sister
is my dad's executive tricks um, And I was like,
what about me? And I read about all that. Okay,
you're just like cut me the check. Yeah, I actually
think my dad likes me more than I thought, now
that I know what an executive executive has to do,
let you off the hook. Yeah. Well, now we're on
(12:25):
the road, driving in your truck. Want to learn a
thing or two from Josh Man, Chuck. Stuff you should know?
All right, that's why sks good. But you should know, so, Chuck,
(12:52):
let's talk about the different kinds of wills. Right. There's
obviously the standard like ironclad will, it's been drafted by
an attorney or whatever. She'll talk about a second. But
there's some kind of interesting wills because death doesn't necessarily happen,
um when you're counting on it, exactly. That should be this,
That should be stuff you should know as new model,
the new slogan, death doesn't happen when you're counting on it.
(13:15):
Death doesn't necessarily happen when you're counting on Just to
add the extra, I like it a bit of suspense. Um.
So you're talking about probably, um, a couple of things
one can be an oral will, which is a lot
of times in the in the old days, and it
might still happen because soldiers are still very young and
might not think that they need a will because they're
young and their bulletproof. But a lot of times soldiers
(13:36):
on the battlefield would execute an oral well to their
buddy there as their dying in the trenches. You want
to do too, buddies, oh to two witnesses. Yeah, that
definitely helps the helps the case that it's legal. Yeah,
and the in the scenario I just mentioned, which is
the the dying soldier on the battlefield, is one of
the more common ways that an oral will will be
(13:58):
upheld because I imagine they have a lot of compassion
for something like that. Yeah, And um, if they can
find your your buddies and get them to sign an affidavit,
or they can actually come to probate court and say, yes,
this is what he said. He said to leave it
all to me. Yeah, no, he said to leave it
all to me. Then it turns ugly. But if they
both agree that it is what you said, then um,
(14:19):
it's probably going to stand up in court. Right. So
what's a deathbed will? A deathbed will is virtually the
same thing, but say, rather than dying young and being
of sound mind, you might be on your deathbed and
are suffering from Alzheimer's or something like that, so the
deathbed will UM. It also can be written to it's
more of like the time rather than the type right um,
(14:40):
so the the it can be written, It can be oral,
and you can have several witnesses, but it's also the
most commonly challenged one because mental capacity is frequently argued,
like this person didn't know what they were talking about,
or somebody you know had their feeding too kinks, so
they did it under durest you know. Yeah. Uh, there
(15:00):
is a holographic wheel Josh, very informal handwritten. Usually this
is the coolest looking will. That's right, it's not a hologram. Uh.
Not all states recognize these as valid um, so as
always check with your state. But scenario where this might
happen is you wreck your car on a snowy road
in the middle of nowhere and you're like, I'm gonna
(15:22):
die and I'm gonna scratch out my will, or you
pee it into the snow that would be awesome, or
if you're James Franco or that real dude and you're
stuck in a and a boulder. You could probably videotape it,
although I think holographic is strictly handwritten. Yeah, so that
would be an oral deathbed will sort of commonly written
(15:44):
in blood, but he lived one's own blood. Um. Yeah,
that's that's a pretty cool one. I said it was cool. Yes, yeah,
I think that's the coolest one that you think. So, yeah,
the the impending death by oneself? Yeah, yeah, and you
just scratch it out and whatever paper you have and
then succume to the elements. I think it's neat because
think about it, you're thinking about the people you love
(16:07):
and in some way they're there with you. Right then. Yeah,
but what if you're saying, I don't want to leave
any of those no good uh never do wells anything, Well,
then you deserve to freeze to death. Okay. Uh, there's
the d I y will which you mentioned. You can
get um on the internet or I guess it Staples.
You can get the forms. Self probating wills can save
you a little time. Well, this is the ironclad will, right,
(16:28):
I think so, so this is the one where you
hire a lawyer to draft it. At the very least
review it. But probably you've hired a lawyer to draft
your will a couple hundred bucks from what I understand. Um,
and the the witnesses sign affidavits ahead of time that
are part of the will, saying like, yes, this guy
did say this, so you don't have to These witnesses
(16:50):
don't have to appear in probate court to testify that
this is the correct will. So it expedites the whole process.
It makes it more difficult to challenge. And basically it's
the butt of boom butt of being of wills. Don't
contest me, baby, is what it says at the bottom. Uh.
And since we're talking about contesting and changing that happens
all the time, totally illegal. The only person that can
(17:12):
change a will is the test to tour. Why is
that funny? That's like Hodgment says complain ant and defend
ant and Judge John Hodgment. So the test it tour
is the only person that can do this. It's very
common a lot of reasons. You might have a new kid,
you might get divorced, you might get married, you might
start hating your kid, might start hating your kid. The
(17:35):
tax laws might change in your favors. You can tweak
it a bit. H You might all of a sudden,
you might win the lottery and think, oh, you know what,
I might want to rethink how my will has read
at this point. Or you might just feel like, you
know what, I'm kind of old and my kids are
doing okay, so I'd rather just leave my money to
some great charities. That's a nice thing to do. Yeah,
Bill Kates, he's leaving the line sheriff his though to charity.
(17:57):
Oh yeah, while he's alive. Even tried. Um And okay,
So let's say that your your elderly parent dies and
you decide that, um, he or she is obviously crazy
because he or she left his or her money to charity. Right, right,
You can challenge this, right, that's right, and there are
(18:18):
a number of ways to challenge it. But it's that's
it's first of all, it's a very difficult, long and
expensive process. Unless you have like real solid evidence of
one of maybe several points that that could possibly overturn
a will, it's gonna be you're not gonna win, and
not anyone can challenge like no Schmo off the street,
(18:40):
or like let's say you I couldn't challenge your will
and say but Josh was my podcast partner. I'm saying,
you know, it doesn't matter. I don't know. You could
technically be a person of legal standing, which is what
you have to be to challenge it will. You either
have to be someone who is in the will and
you're challenging it like I got reem. This is terrible.
I want more money and that's what is your problem.
(19:01):
But you can't challenge on fairness. I mean, you can
do it, but you won't win. Thank you for correcting me. Um.
You could be like somebody was holding this guy's feeding too.
You know this is because so that's when you can challenge.
Or you could be someone who should have been in
the will e g. A podcaster. I would think it's
usually a family member, though you probably have to be
a I would blood relative, blood or maybe marriage. But
(19:22):
I'm sure if you're a blood relative, it helps make you. Um,
it helps your position as a person of legal stand anymore.
I'm gonna challenge your will like when we're in our eighties,
and this is gonna be like some sort of proof
that I agree you should be a person of legal
standing at least will be like the Sunshine Boys, like
we haven't spoken in thirty years, and like our children
are trying to get us together for a more show.
Yeah did you ever see that? No, that's a good one,
(19:43):
but I laughed anyway. All right, um, and by the way,
I'm leaving all my stuff to you me so you
can challenge it all you want, pal, but I just
contradicted your challenge and this is going to stand up.
And you know, because this is a very public I
would think that this would work. Yeah, I wouldn't challenge.
I mean, she can have it all, Okay, she can
have your junk, So a good junk. If you do,
you do, Josh, have a good junk. Um. If you
(20:04):
do challenge it, um, which you're gonna, you can either
rewrite it completely, revoke the original, or add something called
a codicil to your existing will. It's just like an addendum. Basically.
Oh that's if you want to change your will. But
if you want to challenge it, well, well there's going
to turn out so right the will is forged this
one um that it didn't meet the requirements of the state,
(20:27):
Like maybe the state requires two witnesses and there's only one. Um,
it didn't. Uh, the person was coerced the testator, right,
it was coerced with the kink in the feeding too. Um,
the tested term was a victim of fraud. What would
that be? I don't know. Um, like maybe the person
(20:47):
who drew up the will wasn't really a lawyer but
charged lawyer's fee oradeah. Okay. And then lastly, the beneficiary
doesn't improve the executor. And this could be like the
executors maybe the fraudulent attorney. Yeah, it couldn't. It can't
just be like she borrowed my pearl necklace once and
never gave it back. There's no way she can execute
(21:08):
this estate. Right. And I didn't get stats, but the
general feeling I get is that wills are pretty tough
to overturn unless, like you said, there's some pretty blatant
egregious errors or fraud going on. And if and if
it is rejected, then they just go to the state law,
which is, you know, your wife gets this percentage, your
firstborn gets this percentage, and on down the line. Okay,
(21:31):
And that's as if you had died without a will.
That's how they treat it, which is called dying intestate. Yeah.
I never heard that word. Okay, so let's say that
you um, let's say that you really your kid. It
just really turns out to be a jerk. You did
everything you could, but you just don't like your kid.
You nurtured, you nurtured, you nurtured, and then natured one out.
(21:52):
It's like Sean Penn in the game before you went
through the game. Oh yeah, like that kind of guy. Okay,
all right, Okay, you can cut your kid out of
the will, but there's you have to follow a specific guideline.
And that guideline is you officially have to disinherit your kid. Yeah,
and I'm surprised it's it's easier to write your child
(22:13):
out of your will than your spouse. Yeah. And you
you you brought the child into the world, you married
the spouse. I was surprised by that too, Chuck. Yeah, you,
like you said, you disinherit a child for unless you
have some sort of ironclad pre nup, then your spouse
husband or wife is gonna be um, gonna be getting
some dough a half. Generally is the is the way
(22:35):
to go. Um. So, spouses are tough. Kids are easy, right,
but um, most lawyers will be like don't do that.
Do not just disinherit, and don't try to cut your
spouse out. It's gonna make you look like a jerk.
It's going to make a judge overturn your will. Here's
what you do. You give them each fifty cents. Okay, right,
(22:56):
pretty horrible, Right? That didn't make you look like a jerk, No,
it doesn't. But you put in an into rum clause
that says that if they challenge the will, that they
forfeit everything. And you know what that means in Latin,
it means in order to frighten. So basically it's saying,
you know, it's trying to scare someone off right, So
the fifty cents thing wouldn't work, right, You want to
(23:16):
leave them enough so that they are they they're gonna
have what they need, but they're still offended, like exactly right,
So like they're like, well, I could buy five tho
dollars with a crack with that five thousand dollars, maybe
I should just stick with this, you know. Yeah, divorce
can complicate things. Obviously, some states renders the will invalid,
(23:37):
but most times just the parts where the spouses in
there will be addressed. So the bequest is what the
people get. The beneficiaries are the people who get bequests.
Actually figured out like a pretty good sentence to explain
all this. The beneficiary receives a bequest from the testator's
will in probate court at the behest of the executor.
(23:59):
So however, thank you m hm. So the the beneficiaries
(24:25):
are all going to get slapped with what is called
a death tax. Really it's called in the state tax,
but opponents of the estate tax, the rich um basically
created this other name for it called the death tax,
which is like you're being taxed to die. You're not
actually being taxed to die. Your estates not even being taxed.
Your beneficiaries bequests are what are taxed. The thing is,
(24:50):
it's a lot, you know what. I call it, one
final little from the government from uncle saying like, you
paid your whole life, you paid your whole life, you
died on the battlefield, and then we're going to get
some more tax and it's hefty. Yeah. Well, I mean,
part of the reason why the estate taxes around is
to prevent dynasties from taking place. But the problem is
(25:14):
with all of the loopholes tax shelters that kind of stuff. Um,
the rich are the only ones who can afford to
get around from paying estate taxes, So that kind of
goes under the middle class and prevents middle class dynasties
from being formed. But you know, it's really weird. What
I cannot describe to you how severe the level of
(25:36):
deja vu I have right now is have we had
a conversation about the state taxes in that same vein
I don't think so. But we've done a podcast on
deja vu. Well, then prepare for some really vitriolic listener
mail from that one, because in my deja vu memory, Yeah,
that ticked people off. What because you said that only
(25:57):
the rich people can know about these loopholes, Well, they
can afford accountants that can figure out these loopholes, lawyers
that kind of things, like you ain't gonna get that
at the Staples package. No, No, it actually says good
luck with the decks death taxes, pal doesn't so chuck. Um.
If if you are a person living in I think
two thousand six in the United States, and you inherited
(26:20):
over ten thousand fifty dollars, what did you pay five
close to three grand? That's just that that's just for
inheriting ten thousand and fifty one dollars, right, yeah, well
that's the base thing. Then you have to pay an
additional thirty five percent over and above the ten thousand
(26:41):
fifty dollars. So let me ask you that is that
thirty five percent on the whole thing or thirty percent
and the whole thing minus ten thousand and fifty dollars.
It's a good question, and I don't know, and I'm
sure some smart attorney will say, here's how it is. God.
But if you're inheriting a million dollars, who cares? Yeah,
well that's a lot of change. Though, if it's like
Bucks right on ten thousand, yes, Josh, you're indeed right
(27:04):
a million bucks? Who cares? So there's the death taxes.
You can set up a trust. That is one good
way to UM maybe pay fewer taxes UM. If smart
people often set up trust, rich people often set up trust. Well,
it also keeps your UM. You don't have to be
rich though, I've looked into trust. About too grand to
set up a trust? Yeah, yeah, it's UM And this
(27:25):
number one, it's it's very speedy. It keeps it out
of probate court, Like when you die, you're dying wishes
that are a part of your will that are incorporated
into this trust. That's that right, right, Um, so all
of the stuff gets divvied up right away. It stays
out of court. Yeah. And if you have a minor
in your family, a lot of times you'll set up
a trust, because if you don't set up a trust,
(27:46):
the court is going to assign or there will be
a conservator who will oversee the assets of the minor
and I think eighteen to twenty one generally in most states,
as when a minor can all of a sudden handle
their own fine answers. But if you set up a trust,
it's managed by the trust store and they'll handle it
for your kid. Yeah, whoever that person is, I would
(28:09):
imagine someone just as trustworthy is the executor, maybe one
and the same, You're right, and then Chuck. Of course,
there is the living will, right yeah, And there's a
whole article on living wills, but so we won't get
into it too specifically, but a living will has nothing
to do with your money's and properties. It is, um. Hey,
if I'm ever in a serious accident and I'm on
(28:30):
a ventilator, here's how I would like my um, I
would like you to pull the plug or not pull
the plug. And it's more complicated than that. Yeah, because
that's like that's line one. And the line too is
if I'm ever attacked by a dog and I need
a heart that's coming, that's that my family can afford take,
you know, pull the plug and then down the line right, Yeah,
(28:51):
and these need to be signed and witnessed, and power
of attorney is usually included because if you can't cover
every scenario obviously, and the power of attorney would be
let's say, you know what, I want Emily to be
in charge of making this decision and not my mom,
let's say, because my mom would be like, no, he'll
pull through and Emily be like, yeah, he doesn't look
(29:12):
too good. She wouldn't do that. I'm just kidding. It's
still funny, but yeah, a living will is very important
though for anyone of any age. UM, it can get
real messy. We've seen it in the news time and
time again. Uh So yeah, get your living will taken
care of. And I think you can also just do
like a blanket, like, don't don't take any heroic measures
(29:33):
to save me and I don't want to be on
any kind of life support mine mine says, do never
ever unplug me. Really, I want to be a burden
on my family for the rest of my life, as
long as that machine can keep me alive. I want
to be shaved once a week from top to bottom.
All Right. That segways nicely into odd things that can
(29:55):
happen stipulations with your will? Nice Is that how we
should finish up? Yeah, totally. You can have requirements of
your big quest stores. No, the beneficiaries and officiaries like, hey,
this article. I know it was a long time ago.
Um Like, hey, I want I want to give my
son the majority of my fortune, but he's got a
(30:17):
finish college first. Or quit smoking. I saw thinking of
me when you wrote that. That was not you were
smoking a ton back then, though, yes you were. Um, So,
let's talk about some funny and and odd things in
history with wills. Josh finished on a lighter note. Well,
there's Portuguese aristocrat Luis Carlos de Norona Coporal the Camara.
(30:42):
That's terrible, and that sounded like I took a bite
of peanut butter towards the end. Do you want to
do that? One. Well, I'll now that you said his name, Um,
I'll tell you what he did. He picked seventy so
you don't want to try that one. He picked seventies strangers,
random strangers from a phone book in lisbon and at
thirteen years before he died and said, these are the people,
but don't tell him. It's going to be just a
(31:03):
big surprise. Yeah. And some people thought they were being
conned if I did that and I died, everybody there
be um seventies strangers each getting a one dollar bill.
But I put in my will that it had to
be like crisp from the bank never circulated one dollar
bills that make them feel good. I thought, you're gonna
say it like a roller quarters or something that's another
(31:23):
way to go, but that's more than a dollar. Yeah,
you're right, Um McNair ill. Grin Fritz was a unsuccessful
but wealthy composer, and he said, you know what, Metropolitan
Opera of New York, I'll leave you a hundred and
five grand if after I die, you put on this
opera I've I've written. And the met said, yeah, we
could use that money, but no thanks, which is like ouch, yeah,
(31:47):
but they said the music. It was workable. This is
not not like they said, this is awful. I think
I guess it just wasn't in their plan. Um. Who else, Josh,
who else do we have here? Ony Nermi? Yeah, finished, businessman,
This is this is my favorite one. Um. He apparently,
late in life, made some friends at the rest home
where he was dying, and died, I imagine, and he said,
(32:10):
you know what, I'm gonna leave everybody here. Uh, seven
and eighty shares of a rubber boot company that I
imagine I had something to do with at some point. Um.
And that rubber boot company went on to become cell
phone giant Nokia, and all of those people became millionaires.
I imagine all of those people's children or grandchildren became millionaires,
(32:32):
because I don't think Nocchia went from a boot company
to the cell phone biz like overnight. Um, but it
was still very nice. This is a good story if
you ask me, H, these are pretty cool, Josh. Um
ed Headrick the inventor. Um, well, I'm not the inventor
of the frisbee, but he's credited with perfecting the modern frisbee.
(32:53):
He wanted to be. He took it out of its
original Squareship exactly. He worked for WAMO, obviously, and he
said he know what, I want my ashes to be
molded into memorial versions of the Frisbee and sell those
and use the money from those to open up at
Frisbee Museum. And then another guy, a Marvel comic writer,
Mark Gruenwald, said, I would like my ashes to be
(33:14):
mixed with ink and be on a comic book. And
when he died young at forty two, there were four
thousand inc and Ashes issues of Squadron Supreme printed. Yeah,
wouldn't you be disappointed if that was the one you
got printed in? Well? That was probably it was probably
his comic though I still want to be in The Punished, Okay,
(33:35):
I want to be in a better comic. And who
else Dusty Springfield? Shall we mention her? Hers just kind
of eat. I guess it's kind of silly. She had
a cat name Nicholas, and Nicks had a favorite meal,
which was imported baby food. So she left the singer
of Son of a Preacher man Um. She said, you
know what, Um, Nicholas is gonna lay on my nightgown
(33:58):
for the rest of nicklas Is life, and my music
is going to be played and lifetime supply that cat
food for Nicklas. Yeah. And then Leona Helmsley fifteen million
to her dog for the care of her dog. You
can't actually leave money to an animal. Yeah, you can
like stipulate in your will that this money is for
(34:18):
the care of this animal or right. And she left
her a couple of grandkids nothing and then yeah, and
then there was the There was the tree that owns
itself in Athens. The elderly couple that died or the
elderly woman that died and left this piece of land
apparently set up a trust for the tree so that
it can never be cut down or removed. And actually,
(34:40):
if you drive along the street, you have to go
around the roundabout that just built around the tree that
owns itself. It's got a little placard and a little
chain around it. Yea. And that tree grows up to
the center of city Hall. And that tree grew up
to be roy Comb. I got nothing else. I don't either.
If you want to read a fine article and by
a young strapping Charles W. Bryant, when he first came
(35:04):
to how Stuff Works dot com, just type how wills
work into the handy search bar at how stuff works
dot Com that of course brings up listener mail. All right, Josh,
I know you're gonna balk at this because we have
another request from a boyfriend trying to get his girl. No, no, no,
I feel so bad for Timmy though. Alright, alright, Timmy
(35:25):
before we read this, dude, if you don't get back
in touch with us and let us know what happened,
we will find you. Yeah, you're dead to me, even
though we can't find the other guy, we will find
you to me since too. Yeah, and since we mentioned
it other guy who we proposed, we don't like you anymore.
Just what happened there, dude. People are clamoring to know. Alright,
to my beloved Josh and Chuck and Jerry since two
(35:47):
thousand nine, Uh, let me skip ahead to the interesting party. Um,
Jerry's cracking up today. Guys have been a big fan
since two thousand nine. One big thing that has changed
since that time was I found an absolutely brilliant girlfriend.
She also loves you, guys. We would spend our nights
together falling asleep listening stuff. You should know. She would
(36:10):
fill me in on bits I missed. It sounds like
a very sweet thing. Unfortunately, recently we were having a
rough time of things, sort of lost perspective and the
spark faded. Uh, let me go ahead and tell you, Timmy,
do the spark like that. Spark always fades. You gotta
have something else going on there. Substantial Model Airplanes is
a good one. So we both am amicably agreed that
(36:32):
it would be easier to split after eighteen months together.
And the best thing we both do the same university.
We are have the same courses at times. He must
be English or something. We still chat a lot and
I really miss her though, and I know she misses
me too. You don't know that, Timmy. You're about to
find out we were great together and just needed this
(36:54):
time apart to sort out our heads and commit back
to one another. What I would like to do, guys,
is for you to say to Elaine, would you please
get back with Timmy? Go back out with him. He's
boyfriend again. I'm sorry girlfriend. I know she'll be listening.
It would be a great way of me showing her
how much I still care. Or you could just talk
(37:15):
to her that's that's another thing, or that he's watching her.
I don't think I'll do any more of these. Um,
I love her, I want to spend my future with her.
I would be really grateful for this. So that's the deal, Timmy.
It says much love Elaine. Take him back or don't.
Either way, Timmy, Please let us know what happens so
(37:38):
we can follow up and tell people what happened with
the Timmy Elne soccer and that is it. That is
as dead as Haiku and disco. We're not doing that anymore,
never again. No, all right, agreed? Okay, thanks a lot, Timmy.
Good luck to you forever. All right, Um, Chuck, are
you okay with that? No, I'm fine, because it just
(38:00):
gets out of hand and then you know, we're asking
people out on a first date all of a sudden,
and hey, can you tell my friend Joe to pick
up the tab every now and then? You know, it's
just it's I'm okay with that one. Okay, Yeah, that's fine.
You know how I feel about freeloaders. All right, Well,
then we're gonna let's call for that in the email. Um, now,
we'll do that something they'll send him anyway. Okay, all right,
(38:20):
So if you know a story about a crazy will
crazy stipulation in a will I love that. I can't
get enough of them, so let's hear him, right, Yeah,
real ones are you? Yeah? Well yeah, I don't make
them up. Jerks, we want to hear it. You can
put it on Facebook, Stuff you Should Know, Facebook, Facebook
dot com, slash Stuff you Should Not s y s
(38:41):
K podcast. That's our Twitter handle, and you can send
us an email at stuff podcast at how stuff works
dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a production of
I Heart Radios. How Stuff Works from a podcasts for
my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
(39:03):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H m
hm
Stuff You Should Know News
Hosts And Creators
Chuck Bryant
Josh Clark
Show Links
AboutOrder Our BookStoreSYSK ArmyRSSPopular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com