Will Drafting - Different Types Of Will And Some Unusual Examples

When we think of a Will we think of a typewritten document drafted by a solicitor, signed by the testator and witnessed, but there are other less widely used types of Will that are equally valid and binding.

A Holographic Will, for instance, is a Will entirely handwritten and signed by the testator, frequently without witnesses. The fact that it doesn't always require witnesses and is accepted in some countries is because the signature of the testator is in the same handwriting as the body of the document and is thus accepted as proof that the testator actually composed it.

Another type of Will is a Nuncupative Will or verbal Will that must have two witnesses. This type of Will is considered to be a "deathbed" Will because the testator doesn't have time to prepare a written Will. Holographic Wills and Nuncupative Wills are recognised in many countries, particularly for soldiers on active service and in England this type of Will is known as a Serviceman's Will.

In some jurisdictions, notably France and the state of Louisiana in the US, a Mystic Will is a legally binding Last Will and Testament. This unusual document is completed, signed, and sealed in secret then delivered to a notary public together with a signed statement that the document is a valid Will. In front of witnesses, the notary then records on the envelope the circumstances of the transaction and the content remain secret until it is opened on the death of the testator.

While the majority of Wills, whatever the type, are made in order to ensure members of the family are properly provided for after the testator's death, some people have used them to make unusual bequests. As William Hazlitt, the English literary critic and essayist, said: "Few things show the human character in a more fascinating light than the circumstances of Will-making. It is the latest opportunity we have of exercising the natural perversity of the disposition." Here are some examples:

Shakespeare's last request was that his wife, Anne Hathaway, be given his "second best bed".

Benjamin Franklin left instructions in his Will that his daughter not engage in "the expensive, vain and useless pastime of wearing jewels" to prevent her from removing the 408 diamonds studding the frame of a picture of King Louis XVI, gifted to Franklin during his time as ambassador to France.

The Will of Napoleon Bonaparte instructed his son "never to forget that he was born a French prince, and never to [allow|permit] himself to become a tool in the hands of the triumvirs who oppress the nations of Europe."

Virgil, the classical Roman poet most renowned for his great text The Aeneid left instructions in his Will to destroy The Aeneid after his death because it was unfinished. The instruction was later removed from his Will after his friends discovered it.

And one Tony Scott, wrote in his Will: "To my first wife Susan, whom I always promised to include in my Will. Hello Susan!"

By: Jon Aslin

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