3 offbeat things advisors might see in client wills

Last will and testament near house model, gavel on black table

All's well that ends well when it comes to a client's estate plan, one might say. Whether it truly ends well often depends on the last will and testament, a critical document in wealth transfers.  

From William Shakespeare, who left to his wife his "second-best bed" — a much-scrutinized line that's been interpreted as both a calculated snub and a loving gesture — to Napoleon Bonaparte, whose epic will specified what should be done with his hair, the famous dead abound in examples of extra precision when it comes to ensuring their legacies through this document. 

For celebrities who failed to spell out their last wishes with specificity in a will, trouble has brewed after their passing. Marilyn Monroe left the bulk of her assets to her acting coach and said in her will that she intended for him to distribute those, "in his sole discretion," to her friends and colleagues. But instead, upon the coach's death his second wife, who may have had no connection to Monroe, came into possession of most of the icon's estate — she then spent the next several decades profiting off Monroe's name, image and likeness. 

So it's understandable that clients of all wealth levels who want their last wishes to be respected might have some unusual requests or provisions in their wills. 

For Make a Will Month, Financial Planning spoke with experts in estate planning and found three types of unusual will features that advisors can look out for in their work with clients. 

Generous provisions for pets

One of the biggest recent trends in wills is outlining care for pets and beloved animals in great detail, according to Jennifer Proper, managing director of wealth strategies at multifamily office Pitcairn. "I don't see it changing anytime soon," Proper said of the trend in an interview. "That is frequently the topic of conversation for some of our clients."

A few years ago, a wealthy retired client who was a former executive in her 60s asked Proper for help planning for a large group of pets she had acquired over the years, generally as rescues and foster animals. The woman was childless, so she couldn't rely on any children to care for those animals. However, she had worked with a charity that had offered to take her pets if something were to happen to her.

"She was able to hardwire that into her documents, that when she passes away, a portion of her estate will pay to the charity for the care of her dogs and cats so that they can live there for the rest of their natural life," Proper said. "It was a creative way to handle something that was actually really important to her." 

In the case of another woman, her farm animals were deemed so important that they took top priority in her will. "She spent all her life running the family farm and taking care of all their animals," Assunta "Susie" McLane, a CFP who is a managing director and senior wealth advisor at Summit Place Financial Advisors, an RIA based in Summit, New Jersey, said of the client.

This client's will "was very specific that a trust be set up to care for the animals," McLane said. "The family wasn't too happy when they found out that the farm animals had received a majority of their inheritance." 

Lawrence Pon, an accountant and certified financial planner at Pon & Associates in Redwood City, California, said long-living pets in particular are getting added to wills and trusts. One client had a beloved tortoise named Reina, he recalled. The client's will specified that Reina be set up with a trust for her care and that the executor must consult tortoise experts — as well as a financial advisor — to do so. Reina required a nice yard as well as "neck rubs," it stipulated. The pet trust took priority above all other distributions. 

Creative ways to disinherit heirs

While clients may arrange comfort for their animal companions, in some cases they also pull away from human relatives — and now it's possible to supplement a will with recordings to do that. 

"I had a client who was overly concerned that their disinherited child would contest the will upon their passing," said McLane. 

The child in question had not spoken with their parents "in over a decade," McLane said, adding that there were many other reasons for the disinheritance. 

The father decided to read his will aloud in a video reading. "He asked to do this so no one could contest the will or argue that his wishes were misinterpreted," McLane said. McLane had never seen a client do this before, but "in this situation, I could understand why he felt so strongly. There was no arguing his wishes when there was an actual recording of it." 

Tough love for beneficiaries

Related to the problem of estranged children, setting conditions for heirs to qualify for their inheritances has been done throughout history.  

"Maybe this is sadly more prevalent, but in many clients' wills, I have seen a drug testing provision," Pon said.

The wording usually goes thus: "The beneficiary shall not receive their distribution unless there is a clean drug test. If said beneficiary contests this clause, then their share shall be donated to a charity chosen by the executor." 
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