X-Message-Number: 5507 Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 04:32:42 GMT From: (Garret Smyth) Subject: Re: scorched earth wills Re: scorched earth wills John de Rivaz: > > > I was told by a UK solicitor that it is illegal to insert clauses in > > > Wills "denying people their rights" Keith Lynch: > > 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. J d R: > 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'm afraid the legal principal does make sense. It is one of those cruel-but- fair things. You may not like government and the legal system and the idea of equal rights before the law, or the practical reality of any of those, but it is pretty fundamental that any individual should be able to go to law to redress what they see as a wrong. The point of having the court is to decide if it is a wrong or not. In some forms of contract law the parties can agree to a clause denying the right to sue over an alleged breach of contract, but then there is an arbitration procedure built in. This can be accepted by courts if the parties knew what they let themselves in for before signing and even so, whatever system of arbitration is used it should follow "natural justice" (I think!). This just doesn't apply to wills. You can hardly blame a court for refusing to accept as valid a clause trying to prevent someone going to court. If you can't go to court you can't, in the eyes of a court, get any sort of redress for wrongs. You can't put a sign on your car saying "in case of accident, I only pay compensation as long as you don't sue". Well, you could try. You could try putting a clause in your will encouraging someone to commit murder. Incidentally, unless the challenge to the will had been considered mischevious by the first court, I would not give much for the chances of any employer being sued for unfair dismissal giving a defence that the ex-employee was sacked for persuing their legal rights. > In some > countries, (Switzerland?) people's assets must pass, by government decree, > to their relations in a fixed proprtion. I've heard that this applies in France (hence all the small and picturesqe but inefficient farms). A horrid thought strikes me - inheritance law differs between Scotland and England & Wales. Does anyone know how? > 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." Whilst clauses preventing challenging wills are unacceptable, it would be quite reasonable to make any inheritance conditional on your suspension - then the whole will would have to be overturned in one go. As long as you had taken care to do the will properly the main challenges would most likely be that cryonics itself is unreasonable so inheritances would not require it or that the deceased was not of sound mind and hence a previous will or no will at all would be valid. It would be awful if opting for cryonic suspension was cited as evidence of insanity, however, as the years have gone on I have noticed an improvement in the general public's attitude over here (Britain). I wouldn't like to be in British Columbia, though. > Any other ideas for a scorched earth will would no doubt interest some on > this group. A legal fund to help cryonics cases in general and especially ones that might set precedents - perhaps created from bequests? Garret -- Garret Smyth Phone: 0181 789 1045 or +44 181 789 1045 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5507