Strange Wills

[Bo the Bodger]

Has anybody received a will that has made them blink?

I have recently got the will of a cousin (who my mother has always described as "odd"). I read the first page and had to put it down.........

para 3 instructs the attending Dr to to be paid £5 to cut her jugular vein to ensure that she is dead!

[Anne in Carlisle]

Aaaargh! It seems a bit odd though - I wouldn't have thought the will would be the first thing they turned to as she popped her clogs! Maybe several days later when it would be pretty obvious anyway!

Anne

[claretaylor22]

I think it's common that people want to have someone make sure they are dead! I've come across it a few times. Similar in someways to the things the Victorian did to ensure people weren't buried alive!

[Jill on the A272]

I've got a similar clause in a will made in 1933 by Walter Edward Crisp

"I direct my Trustees to cause a Doctor or Surgeon as soon as convenient after my death has been certified to commit a surgical act upon my body that shall secure the certainty of my death and my Trustees shall pay any reasonable sum for such service"

He had trained as a doctor so I expect he had heard all sort of horror stories during his training (though he spent most of his life working as a leather factor). The bulk of his £17,000 estate was left to Guys Hospital.