X-Message-Number: 5500
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 95 15:17:27
From: John de Rivaz <>
Subject: scorched earth wills

In article: <> 
 writes:
> Subject: Re: scorched earth wills
> 
> In #5476, John de Rivaz <> writes:
> > I was told by a UK solicitor that it is illegal to insert clauses in
> > Wills "denying people their rights"
> 
> This doesn't make any sense to me.  Surely you can put any condition
> you like on your will.  To say that someone has the right to contest a
> will is to say that the government may not forbid it.  It isn't to say
> that you can't disinherit them for doing so, or that their friends can't
> refuse to speak to them, or that their boss can't fire them.
> --
> Keith Lynch, 
> http://www.access.digex.net/~kfl/

I think the solicitor meant that clauses disinheriting people completely 
because they contested their inheritance would be set aside (ie disregarded) 
by the court. Obviously such clauses would have to be determined by a court 
as they would only be relevant if court action is involved.

I don't say I agree with this situation, only that it exists. In some 
countries, (Switzerland?) people's assets must pass, by government decree, 
to their relations in a fixed proprtion.

Yes, you can put anything you like in a will, it doesn't mean that it will 
be acted upon. I had considered:

"If I am not placed into cryonic suspension, then I order that all my assets 
be turned into money, that money used to buy gold and that gold to be 
dissolved in the mixture of acids known as aqua regia, the resulting 
solution to be neutralised and poured into the sea."

Any other ideas for a scorched earth will would no doubt interest some on 
this group.

-- 
Sincerely,     ****************************************       
               * Publisher of        Longevity Report *
John de Rivaz  *                     Fractal Report   *
               *          details on request          *
               ****************************************
**** What is the point of life if it ends in death? ****


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5500