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The Advancement, Education and Ethical Standards Within The Will Writing Profession

Did You Know

A look at some of the more famous Wills in History

The first victim of the Great Plague of London was Margaret Porteous. She was buried on 12 April 1665 in Covent Garden. By the end of that year at least 110,000 people had died.

Victorian mourners followed strict guidelines. A widow had to wear black for two years - including a black ribbon tied to her underwear, while a widower.s reason for mourning was discernible from the width of his hat-band; 7in was customary for a wife, 5in for a parent or child.

Queen Victoria refused, after the death of Prince Albert in 1861, to be photographed without a bust or painting of the late Prince Consort being included in the frame.

There are more that 130 woodland buriel sites in Britain. Most people buried in woodland sites are laid to rest in cardboard coffins or wicker baskets. Roslyn Cassidy of Green Endings recommends a bamboo coffin made in China. The firm she uses used to make garden furniture. Woodland buriel sites cost between £400 and £2,500.

Self-assembly cardboard coffins can be ordered from greenundertakings.co.uk for £65 guaranteed next-day delivery.

Wit and the afterlife:

"When I die, I would like to be born again as me"
Playboy's Hugh Hefner

"Why don't they make gravestones look cheerier?" "Probably because of that whole death thing involved with it"
Band members at Elvis's grave in "This Is Spinal Tap"

"Is this safe?" asked William Palmer, testing the trapdoor before being hanged in 1856

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying"
Woody Allen

"When I die I want it to be on my 100th birthday, at my beach house on Maui, and I want my husband to be so upset he has to drop out of college"
Roz from the Frazier episode where Eddie suffers from doggy depression

The Most Buried Person

Mrs Vera Anderson of Oregon is probably the most buried person in the world. She died at the age of 78 having been confined to her home for many years due to serious illness. But she had always wanted to travel the world. So after her death her son Ross followed her wishes and loaded her ashes into a coffin along with letters of tribute and details of her wishes. She was sent to all 50 American states and 191 countries around the world. In all more than 250 ceremonies were conducted.

Diana

When Princess Diana died tragically on August 31, 1997 she left behind a £21.5 million fortune, most of which was bequeathed to her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. The inheritance will be held in trust for the two princes until they reach the age of 30. In her will made public on March 2, 1998, Diana also left £50,000 to her former butler, Paul Burrell, and set aside personal momenta for her 17 godchildren.

The Will of Diana, Princess of Wales

I DIANA PRINCESS OF WALES of Kensington Palace London W8 HEREBY REVOKE all former Wills and testamentary dispositions made by me AND DECLARE this to be my last Will which I make this First day Of June One thousand nine hundred and ninety three

1 I APPOINT my mother THE HONOURABLE MRS FRANCES RUTH SHAND KYDD of Callinesh Isle of Seil Oban Scotland and COMMANDER PATRICK DESMOND CHRISTIAN JERMY JEPHSON of St James's Palace London SW1 to be the Executors and Trustees of this my Will

2 I WISH to be buried

3 SHOULD any child of mine be under age at the date of the death of the survivor of myself and my husband I APPOINT my mother and my brother EARL SPENCER to be the guardians of that child and I express the wish that should I predecease my husband he will consult with my mother with regard to the upbringing education and welfare of our children

4 (a) I GIVE free of inheritance tax all my chattels to my Executors jointly (or if only one of them shall prove my Will to her or him)

(b) I DESIRE them (or if only one shall prove her or him)

(i) To give effect as soon as possible but not later than two years following my death to any written memorandum or notes of wishes of mine with regard to any of my chattels
(ii) Subject to any such wishes to hold my chattels (or the balance thereof) in accordance with Clause 5 of this my Will


(c) FOR the purposes of this Clause "chattels" shall have the same meaning as is assigned to the expression "personal chattels" in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (including any car or cars that I may own at the time of my death)

(d) I DECLARE that all expenses for the safe custody of and insurance incurred prior to giving effect to my wishes and for packing transporting and insurance for the purposes of the delivery to the respective recipients of their particular chattels shall be borne by my residuary estate

5 SUBJECT to the payment or discharge of my funeral testamentary and administration expenses and debts and other liabilities I GIVE all my property and assets of every kind and wherever situate to my Executors and Trustees Upon trust either to retain (if they think fit without being liable for loss) all or any part in the same state as they are at the time of my death or to sell whatever and wherever they decide with power when they consider it proper to invest trust monies and to vary investments in accordance with the powers contained in the Schedule to this my Will and to hold the same UPON TRUST for such of them my children PRINCE WILLIAM and PRINCE HENRY as are living three months after my death and attain the age of twenty five years if more than one in equal shares PROVIDED THAT if either child of mine dies before me or within three months after my death and issue of that child are living three months after my death and attain the age of twenty one years such issue shall take by substitution if more than one in equal shares per stirpes the share that the deceased child of mine would have taken had he been living three months after my death but so that no issue shall take whose parent is then living and so capable of taking

6 MY EXECUTORS AND TRUSTEES shall have the following powers in addition to all other powers over any share of the Trust Fund

(a) POWER under the Trustee Act 1925 Section 31 to apply income for maintenance and to accumulate surplus income during a minority but as if the words "my Trustees think fit" were substituted in sub-section (1)(i) thereof for the words "may in all the circumstances be reasonable" and as if the proviso at the end of sub-section (1) thereof was ommitted

(b) POWER under the Trustee Act 1925 Section 32 to pay or apply capital for advancement or benefit but as if proviso (a) to sub-section (1) thereof stated that "no payment or application shall be made to or for any person which exceeds altogether in amount the whole of the presumptive or vested share or interest of that person in the trust property or other than for the personal benefit of that person or in such manner as to prevent limit or postpone his or her interest in possession in that share or interest"

7 THE statutory and equitable rules of apportionment shall not apply to my Will and all dividends and other payments in the nature of income received by the Trustees shall be treated as income at the date of receipt irrespective of the period for which the dividend or other income is payable

8 IT is my wish (but without placing them under any binding obligation) that my executors employ the firm of Mishcon de Reya of 21 Southampton Row London WC1B 5HS in obtaining a Grant of Probate to and administering my estate

9 ANY person who does not survive me by at least three months shall be deemed to have predeceased me for the purpose of ascertaining the devolution of my estate and the income thereof

10 IF at any time an Executor or Trustee is a professional or business person charges can be made in the ordinary way for all work done by that person or his firm or company or any partner or employee

THE SCHEDULE

MY Executors and Trustees (hereinafter referred to as "my Trustees") in addition to all other powers conferred on them by law or as the result of the terms of this my Will shall have the following powers

..........././......

IN WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand the day and year first above written

SIGNED by HER ROYAL HIGHNESS )
in our joint presence and )
then by us in her presence )

I DIANA PRINCESS OF WALES of Kensington Palace London W8 DECLARE this to be a First Codicil to my Will which is dated the first day of June One thousand nine hundred and ninety three

1. My Will shall be construed and take effect as if in clause 1 the name and address of Commander Patrick Desmond Christian Jermy Jephson were omitted and replaced by the following:

my sister Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia McCorquodale (known as The Lady Sarah McCorquodale) of Stoke Rochford Grantham Lincolnshire NG33 5EB

2. In all other respects I confirm my said Will.

IN WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand this First day of February One thousand nine hundred and ninety six

SIGNED by HER ROYAL HIGHNESS )
in our joint presence and then )
by us in her presence )

Last Will & Testament of me Flat Broke

I, Flat Broke of the State of Poverty, being of unsound financial status do hereby make and declare this to be my last Will & Testament to wit

I leave to my children namely my sons Gone Broke, Flat Broke Jr., Been Broke and Almost Broke, all my debts, both public and private to be shared equally

I leave to my daughters Patience Broke, Never Broke and Going Broke the knowledge that I was always Broke and they will always be Broke

I leave to my beloved wife, Broken Hearted Broke, not one thing as I am Flat Broke.

Last Will and Testament of a very distinguished dog

The reputation of Eugene O'Neill as the American Shakespeare was established even before his death in 1953. O'Neill's output was formidable - more than 30 plays, including the posthumously produced classic, Long Day's Journey Into Night. He was a Nobel Prize winner. Reflecting his own tempestuous emotional background - be came from a yeasty but tragic Irish-American family - his plays are rarely engaging.

So his epitaph to his dog is a rarity among O'Neill documents - sentimental, even whimsical, close in spirit to his one major comedy, Ah Wilderness! The dog was acquired at a relatively peaceful period of O'Neill's life. He and his protective third wife, the beautiful actress Carlotta Monterey, looked upon it as their 'child.' O'Neill wrote Blemie's will as a comfort to Carlotta just before the dog died in its old age in December 1940

Last Will and Testament

I, Silverdene Emblem O'Neill (familiarly known to my family, friends and acquaintances as Blemie), because the burden of my years is heavy upon me, and I realize the end of my life is near, do hereby bury my last will and testament in the mind of my Master. He will not know it is there until I am dead. Then, remembering me in his loneliness, he will suddenly know of this testament, and I ask him then to inscribe it as a memorial to me.

I have little in the way of material things to leave. Dogs are wiser than men. They do not set great store upon things. They do not waste their time hoarding property. They do not ruin their sleep worrying about objects they have, and to obtain the objects they have not. There is nothing of value I have to bequeath except my love and my faith. These I leave to those who have loved me, to my Master and Mistress, who I know will mourn me most, to Freeman who has been so good to me, to Cyn and Roy and Willie and Naomi and - but if I should list all those who have loved me it would force my Master to write a book. Perhaps it is in vain of me to boast when I am so near death, which returns all beasts and vanities to dust, but I have always been an extremely lovable dog.

I ask my Master and Mistress to remember me always, but not to grieve for me too long. In my life I have tried to be a comfort to them in time of sorrow, and a reason for added joy in their happiness. It is painful for me to think that even in death I should cause them pain. Let them remember that while no dog has ever had a happier life (and this I owe to their love and care for me), now that I have grown blind and deaf and lame, and even my sense of smell fails me so that a rabbit could be right under my nose and I might not know, my pride has sunk to a sick, bewildered humiliation. I feel life is taunting me with having over lingered my welcome. It is time I said good-by, before I become too sick a burden on myself and on those who love me. It will be sorrow to leave them, but not a sorrow to die. Dogs do not fear death as men do. We accept it as part of life, not as something alien and terrible which destroys life. What may come after death, who knows? I would like to believe with those of my fellow Dalmatians who are devout Mohammedans, that there is a Paradise where one is always young and full-bladdered; here all the day one dillies and dallies with an amorous multitude of houris, beautifully spotted; where jack-rabbits that run fast but not too fast (like the houris) are as the sands of the desert; where each blissful hour is mealtime; where in long evenings there are a million fireplaces with logs forever burning and one curls oneself up and blinks into the flames and nods and dreams, remembering the old brave days on earth, and the love of one's Master and Mistress.

I am afraid this is too much for even such a dog as I am to expect. But peace, at least, is certain. Peace and long rest for weary old heart and head and limbs, and eternal sleeps in the earth I have loved so well. Perhaps, after all, this is best.

One last request I earnestly make. I have heard my Mistress say, 'When Blemie dies we must never have another dog. I love him so much I could never love another one.' Now I would ask her, for love of me, to have another. It would be a poor tribute to my memory never to have a dog again. What I would like to feel is that, having once had me in the family, now she cannot live without a dog! I have never had a narrow jealous spirit. I have always held that most dogs are good (and one cat, the black one I have permitted to share the living-room rug during the evenings, whose affection I have tolerated in a kindly spirit, and in rare sentimental moods, even reciprocated a trifle). Some dogs, of course, are better than others. Dalmatians, naturally, as everyone knows, are best.

So I suggest a Dalmatian as my successor. He can hardly be as well bred, or as well mannered or as distinguished and handsome as I was in my prime. My Master and Mistress must not ask the impossible. But he will do his best, I am sure, and even his inevitable defects will help by comparison to keep my memory green. To him I bequeath my collar and leash and my overcoat and raincoat, made to order in 1929 at Hermes in Paris. He can never wear them with the distinction I did, walking around the Place Vendome, or later along Park Avenue, all eyes fixed on me in admiration; but again I am sure he will do his utmost not to appear a mere gauche provincial dog. Here on the ranch, he may prove himself quite worthy of comparison, in some respects. He will, I presume, come closer to jackrabbits than I have been able to in recent years. And, for all his faults, I hereby wish him the happiness I know will be his in my old home.

One last word of farewell, Dear Master and Mistress. Whenever you visit my grave, say to yourselves with regret but also with happiness in your hearts at the remembrance of my long happy life with you: 'here lies one who loved us and whom we loved.' No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you, and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail.