Idaho Law Blog
By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney
Just to prove the fact that lawyers like good humor as much as everyone else, I’ve included some unique and funny stories and jokes about estate planning. Even though they are meant to be humorous, lessons about the importance of Estate Planning and the role a good estate planning attorney can play in that process can be learned from these jokes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business. When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune. One evening at an investment club meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. “I may look like just an ordinary man,” he said to her, “but in just a few years, my father will die, and I’ll inherit 20 million dollars.” Impressed, the woman obtained his business card. Three days later, she became his stepmother.
A farmer and his wife took part in the wedding of a neighbor that had been friends with the couple for years. Her husband had been a farmer for over 40 years before he passed away, and she was now marrying her pharmacist, who had also lost his wife some time back. The couple had their wedding out at the farm. They cleaned out and decorated the old barn and used much of the, now antique, farm equipment as decorations for the event. The farmer’s wife remarked at how the cleaned out barn made a nice place for the reception. She said, “Hey honey maybe you should clean out your barn so we could host parties. Maybe we could even rent it out.” He was in a fowl mood for most of the event, as he watched kids playing on his dear friend’s old tractors, and heard town folk asking dumb questions about the different implements scattered around the yard. They even used his dear friend’s favorite work bench as the table for the wedding cake and the punch bowl. Later the next week, as the couple was eating breakfast, out of the blue the farmer blurted out, “When I die, I want you to sell all of my stuff.” The wife, surprised by the comment finally responded, “Now why would you want me to do that?” He said, “I figure a woman of your caliber would eventually remarry, and I don’t want some other jerk using my stuff!” Quick as a wink she barked back, “What makes you think I’d marry another jerk?”
Mrs. Agren, a 5th grade math teacher, posed the following problem to one of her classes: “A wealthy man dies and leaves ten million dollars. One-fifth is to go to his wife, one-fifth is to go to his son, one-sixth to his butler, and the rest to charity. Now, what does each get?” After a very long silence in the classroom, Little Mikey raised his hand. The teacher called on Little Mikey for his answer. With complete sincerity in his voice, Little Mikey answered, “A lawyer!”
A wealthy old man summons to his bedside his doctor, his priest, and his lawyer. “They say you can’t take it with you, but I’d like to have something with me, just in case. So I am giving each of you an envelope containing $100,000 in cash and I would be grateful if at my funeral you would put the envelopes in my coffin.” They each agree to carry out his wish. At the old man’s funeral, each of the three advisors slips something into the coffin. As the three are walking away together, the doctor turns to the other two and says, “Friends, I have a confession to make. At the hospital we are desperate for a CAT SCAN machine, so I took $20,000 of our friend’s money for a new machine and put the rest in the coffin as he asked.” The priest admits, “I, too, have a confession to make. I took $50,000 for our homeless fund and put the rest in the coffin as our friend requested.” The lawyer righteously replies, “I am astonished that you would do this to our friend. I want you to know that I placed in his coffin my personal check for the full $100,000.”
Determined to prove the saying wrong, “you can’t take it with you”, an old lawyer on his deathbed requested that his wife place money in the attic directly above his bed. His wife and butler honored the request. Soon after the old lawyer passed away, his wife and butler inspected the attic to find that the money was still there. His wife immediately turned to the butler and said, “The fool! I knew he should have had me put it in the basement!”
A young man asked an old rich man how he made his money.The old guy fingered his worsted wool vest and said, “Well, son, it was 1932. The depth of the Great Depression. I was down to my last nickel. “I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of the day, I sold the apple for ten cents. The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing them and sold them at 5:00 pm for 20 cents. I continued this system for a month, by the end of which I’d accumulated a fortune of $1.37.””And that’s how you built an empire?” the boy asked. “Heavens no!” the man replied. “Then my wife’s father died and left us two million dollars.”
A lawyer was reading out the will of a rich man to the people mentioned in the will:
“To you, my loving wife Rose, who stood by me in rough times, as well as good, I leave her the house and $2 million.” The lawyer continued, “To my daughter Jessica, who looked after me in sickness and kept the business going, I leave her the yacht, the business and $1 million” The lawyer concluded, “And, to my cousin Dan, who hated me, argued with me, and thought that I would never mention him in my will – well you are wrong. Hi Dan!”
ENLIST AN IDAHO ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEY TO HELP YOU
If you do not have an estate plan in place, we can help. When it comes to estate planning or probate you should never try to do it alone. If you have questions for yourself or for your family and loved ones, call us toll free at 877-232-6101 or 208-232-6101 for a consultation with Lane Erickson and the Racine Olson team of Estate Planning attorneys in Idaho. You can also email Lane Erickson directly at lve@racinelaw.net. We will answer your questions and will help you solve your Idaho Estate Planning problems.