Lawyers Share The Wildest Requests They've Ever Seen In Someone's Will

A spiteful note from beyond the grave. A ridiculous quest that can only be completed using specific instructions. An utterly bizarre final statement. Lawyers and family members have heard all of these things and more when reading someone's will. So take note, because next time it could be you who's faced with a request from Granny to reveal a certain risqué body part at her open-casket funeral. Yep, that really happened...


Please note, answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Fancy fish supper

"A lady wanted to create a trust fund of £100,000 for her pet fish. When I asked if it was a special kind of fish, she confirmed it was just a normal goldfish, but she wanted it to be fed fresh avocado every day and be looked after by a local dog walker after she died. She was absolutely serious." — scarlett_pimpernel on Reddit

Read the fine print

"My great-grandad had a clause in his will that stated something along the lines of, 'if any of the beneficiaries decide to dispute the contents of the decedent’s estate, their share becomes $1 and nothing else.' Seemed like a pretty good way to maintain harmony among his survivors." — nelson227 on Reddit

Here kitty kitty

"Just last week I handled a matter where the parents left millions in artwork to various people, wads of cash to various charities, and only left their kids the family cats. Turns out they did it because the kids got them the cats to comfort the parents in their old age and the parents hated the cats but the kids wouldn’t let them get rid of the cats." — Dr_BrOneil on Reddit

Invincible cats

"An aging woman my family knew left her house (large, and in a very affluent neighborhood) and estate to family friends for so long as her cats were alive and taken care of in said house. After they died, the house was to be sold and the remaining estate donated.

The weird thing is, it's been like 20 years and the cats are still alive.

Also, they've changed color." — from Reddit