Son’s Inheritance is ‘Up in Smoke’ after He Refuses to Quit Smoking! 4 Things You CANT Ask Your Descendants to do in Your Will.
You can give away whatever you own via your last will and testament and you can with some limitations add conditions. So no you cannot tell your daughter she has to leave that jerk of a husband but you can make her go to college. Courts tend to look at whether thedemands are contrary to public policy. I read an interesting case out of South Africa that posed several interesting questions to any Palm Beach Probate Attorney. Can you disinherit your children for refusing to quit smoking?
- A Pretoria (South Africa) businessman was survived by two sons and two daughters and he disinherited both sons for refusing to quit smoking.
- The will was found after he had died and was handwritten.
- The sons claim it was just a threat and not meant to be the father’s will.
- Marius (one of the sons) said that before their father had died, Daniel (the other son) had told him that their father had drafted the “will” in which he declared his daughters the only beneficiaries in an attempt to make him stop smoking.
- “The trust is my father did amonish me on many occasions that he would disinherit me if I did not stop smoking. I never took his threat s seriously.” Daniel said.
Well the judge took it seriously. A South African judge said that was the only will there was and that was the will that would be respected and upheld.
- Do not make joke wills – if the sons are correct and not jusy lying to try and get some inheritance, I am sure they wish their father lived by this advice. Look, you wont be around to probate your will, this is one of the few things I will guarantee. So do not make a joke assuming people will get it, that’s a dangerous assumption. If you leave your money to “the Flatearth Society” for research to disprove the earth is round, even if you spent your life studying Earth and everyone knows it’s a gag its on the will and the Court may choose to respect it.
- Handwritten wills are not always valid and are not valid in Florida if it does not conform to another State’s specifications (and executed in that State) or if it meets all of Florida’s requirements. So your handwritten document in a shoe box may not be of much help, which again I should say, it really will probably hurt more than anything.
- Its not just the layperson who dies without an estate plan it could happen to anyone, including you. This guy was an established businessman and for some reason never drew up a will.
Wondering what kind of things you cannot order in your will? This is by no means an exhaustive list but you cannot make a gift contingent on any of the following:
- A person changing their religion
- A person hurting themselves or others
- A person marrying or divorcing
- A person having to give gifts to you or someone elses estate (this quid pro quo will likely not be respected by the Courts.