Stuff You Should Know - SYSK Selects: How Wills Work

Episode Date: September 14, 2019

Whether it's oral, scrawled in blood or signed on a deathbed everyone should have a will. But how do they actually work? Join Chuck and Josh as they explain that "of sound mind" thing in this classic episode. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called, David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're gonna use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s.

We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass

and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. And a different hot, sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, ya everybody, about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say. Bye, bye, bye.

Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey everybody, it's your old pal and trusted confidant, Josh. And for this week's SYSK Selects, I've chosen How Wills Work. It's a dyed in the wool example

of a classic Stuff You Should Know episode, where we did our absolute best to find the most interesting stuff about a seemingly boring topic. Plus, it's chock-full of helpful legal advice issued by a pair of decidedly non-lawyers, us. At any rate, hope you enjoy it, take care. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works.

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always is Charles W. Chuck, Chucker, Chuck Tran, Bryant. Chuck Tran's so weird to me, I don't get it. Yeah, I have no recollection of where that came from. I don't know, wait, it was from a show, though. Yeah. You didn't just make that up. Not just now, no, it was in relation

to something we were talking about at the time. Yeah, someone wrote mine. It made sense once. Okay. I was on our Facebook page, I was looking for discussions. Like, sometimes I like to go on and read like, what's your favorite line?

Really? Have you ever read this? I didn't know there were discussions. It's like a trip down memory lane. Really? Yeah, there's like whole discussion threads. There's like 40 different threads that people have created.

Did none of them? But there is one that was like, what's your favorite Stuff You Should Know line of all time? I can't find that thread any longer. It was a good one. Did you go through and count on how many you had and how many I had?

I did not count. I kept a running tally, but I didn't count. Just mentally, I didn't write anything down. As it were. Chuck. Yes. 1979 was a pretty good year for movies. Yeah, sure. Allow me.

That year, the Muppet movie came out. Kramer versus Kramer was number one at the box office. One of my personal favorites, Amityville Horror. The first one. Oh yeah. The 1979 one. Yeah, yeah. Woody Allen's Manhattan, The Jerk.

That's my favorite all time movie. Manhattan is? Yeah. I've not seen it. What? I have not. Okay. The Jerk is awesome.

Oh wait, The Jerk or Manhattan? I said Manhattan and you said uh-huh. Yeah, Manhattan. I was just, I was changing the subject. Okay, all right. I like The Jerk. Yeah. Alien, Rocky II.

Alien, so far ahead of its time. Moonraker, so behind the times. But none of these held a candle to, in my opinion, overlooked movie by director Michael Schultz, a classic called Scavenger Hunt. Really? Have you ever seen it? No.

You've not seen Scavenger Hunt? No. Was it kind of a riff on, it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world? I can see how some maybe some elitists might make that distinction or that comparison. Okay. I personally think that it's a great movie and it's about Vincent Price while it begins.

Vincent Price is this aged video game magnet. Was he ever young? No. Okay. He was born like wrinkled and gray, yeah. And Swab, though. Yes. He was much more Swab than he led on.

He is dying and he actually does die playing one of his video games. And then you cut to his former home and his lawyer is executing as well, which is a state of worth $200 million. And it turns out we learn very quickly as all the characters assemble, that the whole thing is up for grabs to a single team

who go on a Scavenger Hunt. Did you really see this or is this just? I grew up on this one. Oh, okay. Yeah, it was a great movie. All right. Have you really not seen it? No, I never heard of it.

I strongly recommend it. And I found it just to get myself in the mood. I found it on YouTube in parts, I think 11 parts of like 10 minute segments. So if you're a very cheap person or can't find it, it's up on YouTube. Sweet. I think if you search Scavenger Hunt

and then in parentheses, 1979, it'll bring it up. Awesome. So the whole point of that was that number one, Scavenger Hunt is a good movie. And number two, people do some wacky things with wills. That scenario wasn't that far off from things that people have done with their wills. We're talking about wills, Chuck.

Let's get ready to talk about contract law. I know this is one of the first articles I wrote. And it was a little rigid, but there's not a lot you can do. I mean, I tried to make it a little fun at the end, but I was fully planning on complimenting you on this article. It's a good article. It's comprehensive.

It's got everything you need. I mean, you don't get into any of the legal mama jumbo, but that's not the role of the site. And you know what? Let's just go ahead and say I'm glad you brought that up. We are not attorneys. You should not take this podcast and base your will and life on it.

Please do not do that. No, but that being said, you can get all the documents you need to create your own will for $6.95 at Staples. Really? Yeah. Yeah, they have everything. Well, that brings up one of the first points, which is a will isn't super complicated to draw up.

And it varies from state to state, so you can do it yourself. But you should get an attorney to look over things. But if you want to save a few bucks, you can always go to Staples. Well, we should probably say that again and again through this podcast, as you did again and again through this article, like really,

you should have, at the very least, an attorney look at your will if you're going to do it yourself, right? Let's talk about some of the specifics, man. If you are, if you have 10 minutes to write this thing, a piece of paper and a pen, what are the high points that you want to hit to make your will as close to legal as possible? And by the way, state law governs wills, right?

Yeah, and you always got to check with your state. Always. If you want to call it up and be like state, I got some questions for you. And if you have a will in one state and you move, it'll still be valid, but you still should check your state's laws and stuff like that. Right, because is it the state you die in

that is the state that your will is executed in? Oh, jeez. Because it seems like if you were going to move, it would seem like that's the way it would go. I guess so, but what if you die on vacation in Hawaii, your will wouldn't be based on, I think it pertains to the state in which it was drafted and approved. Check with your lawyer.

Check with your lawyer. Or at least call the state. I didn't think you'd stump me so early. Sorry. All right, so what you want to have at the very bare minimum is your name, your spouse's name, if you have one. And when you were married.

Yeah, your children's names. So they can make sure they're not confusing you or your other spouse with your spouse in the will. That's right. Your children's names, and I love this part, how you want any stepchildren or foster children to be treated. You can be like, well.

Yeah, please treat them well. A statement revoking any other wills if you have one. You got to name your executor and an alternate. You should name an alternate. A list of powers that you want that executor to have. Special gifts, personal property. And instructions for distributing, paying debts. Or actually, you can't decide whether or not

you want to pay your debts. But after debt has been paid, how you want your stuff to be doled out. So I'm officially founding a movement that if your debtors can't get the money they need out of you while you're alive, that's that. Yeah, didn't you look that up? What's the law?

Well, it varies by state again. But generally, if you have enough money to pay, say like a credit card debt, you have to pay that credit card debt. But there are onuses on credit card companies. Like they have to notify your executor within like 60 days or something of this outstanding debt. And if it turns out that there's not enough money,

then you can basically say like, sorry, that's that. And the credit card company has to write it off. And then we all pay for it with our outrageous financing fees in the end. Burial instructions, you can sometimes put it in a will, but you should- What instructions? Burial debts, I just got tick-tongued in my burial.

And you probably want those somewhere else though, because sometimes the will isn't like immediately accessible if you've got it locked in a safe and your family doesn't know the combination. They're just gonna leave you laying around on the floor of the kitchen for days. You don't need to sweat your pension plan or life insurance or annuity, stuff like that.

Cause that's all taken care of. The beneficiary are in those documents, so it doesn't need to be in your will. Right, and it can actually screw things up, right? Not screw things up, it can slow things down because you can say, I want this, my life insurance policy to go to my estate and then divvy it up.

But that just adds a lot more time to the process, correct? Absolutely, you should probably in most states have to be at least 18 years old to have a legal will. And you have to, everyone knows, you have to be of sound mind and body. Or I think it's just sound mind. Yeah, cause I mean, what does your body have to do with it? As long as you can like make an X or, you know,

draw a whale like quickwag, you're fine. So what does that mean, legally speaking, mentally sound? Well, I'm glad that you brought that up. Or I'm glad that you put this in the article because I think it's a good idea. Basically, you have to know that you own property. You have to know about it, right? If you don't know that you have like 100 acres in Montana,

then you're not probably of sound mind. Or you did at one time know that you had it and just don't remember any longer? Yeah. That could be a problem as well. And the sad. If you're not, it is. I don't know, laugh at that.

It is kind of sad to not be of sound mind. If you're not suffering from a mental illness, which I remember I saw a remake of Psycho, which wasn't Psycho 2, it was made for TV and it was kind of a spoof comedy. And the thing starts with the execution of Norman Bates' will. And it gets to the point where it says,

I, Norman Bates, being of sound mind and everybody in the room's like, ah, ah, ah. But it kind of brings up a point. Like what do you do if you are mentally ill and you have a bunch of assets and you've never created a will and you want to create one?

Do you just, do you die intestine? I don't know. That's a good question. Intestate? I do know that if you become mentally ill later on, then it doesn't matter, as long as you have sound mind when you first wrote the will.

Right, okay. You also need to be aware of the people who are related to you. Again, not like you fathered a kid back in 1962 that you didn't know about. That's not what they're talking about. They're talking about the kid that you had in 1962 and raised into adulthood is still recognizable to you.

And also, you generally probably shouldn't hold conversations with leprechauns that tell you to burn things. Right. That's usually a big red flag that you might not be of sound mind. That's right. So Chuck, that's sound mind. Uh-huh.

And let's say you've got that. Check, check, check. You know about your lane in Montana. You know your kid's name. You don't suffer from mental illness. Yeah. And you are ready to create your will, right? Boom.

The executor. Yes. That is the most important person in your will because that is the person that is gonna make an inventory of all your junk. They're gonna pay your debts. They're legitimate debts. That is not Vinny who comes over and says,

hey, yo, he owe me $10,000. Although you may wanna pay that too if you're smart. Distributes the assets under the terms of the will. So it can be anybody, but you want it to be someone you really, really trust. Someone who's probably pretty smart, maybe has a little business experience, and someone who is thoughtful

because it can get ugly. You want someone, this is a tough time for a family usually. And you want someone that's got a good bedside manner if they're gonna execute your will. Right. Not some jerk. Right.

You also want somebody who has a lot of time to go to your house and inventory stuff. Yeah. I remember when I found out my sister is my dad's executorix. And I was like, what about me? And I read about it all the time. She don't want to be bothered with that, dude.

It's okay. You're just like, cut me the check. Yeah, I actually think my dad likes me more than I thought now that I know what an executor has to do. He lets you off the hook. Yeah. Well now when you're on the road driving in your truck, why not learn a thing or two from Josh and Chuck.

It's stuff you should know. Stuff you should know. All right. On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're gonna use Hey Dude as our jumping off point,

but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and nonstop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64?

Do you remember getting Frosted Tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL Instant Messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's beeper because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing.

Each episode will rival the feeling of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast,

Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough, or you're at the end of the road. Ah, okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation?

If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. This, I promise you. Oh, God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there for you. Oh, man.

And so will my husband, Michael. Um, hey, that's me. Yep, we know that, Michael. And a different hot, sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life, step by step. Oh, not another one. Kids, relationships, life in general can get messy. You may be thinking, this is the story of my life.

Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. So Chuck, let's talk about the different kinds of wills. But there's some kind of interesting wills

because death doesn't necessarily happen when you're counting on it. Exactly, that should be the, that should be stuff you should know as new motto, so new slogan. Death doesn't happen when you're counting on it. Yeah, death doesn't necessarily happen when you're counting on it, just to add that extra. I like it, bit of suspense.

So you're talking about probably a couple of things. One can be an oral will, which is a lot of times in the old days, and it might still happen because soldiers are still very young and might not think that they need a will because they're young and they're bulletproof. But a lot of times soldiers on the battlefield would execute an oral will to their buddy there

as they're dying in the trenches. You wanna do two buddies. Oh, two witnesses? Yeah, that definitely helps the case that it's legal. Yeah, and the scenario I just mentioned, which is the dying soldier on the battlefield is one of the more common ways that an oral will will be upheld.

Right. Because I imagine they have a lot of compassion for something like that. Yeah, and if they can find your buddies and get them to sign an affidavit or they can actually come to probate court and say, yes, this is what he said. He said to leave it all to me.

Yeah, no, he said to leave it all to me. Then it turns ugly. But if they both agree that it is what you said, then it's probably gonna stand up in court, right? So what's a deathbed will? A deathbed will is virtually the same thing, but say rather than dying young and being of sound mind, you might be on your deathbed

and are suffering from Alzheimer's or something like that. Right. The deathbed will, it also can be written too. It's more of like the time rather than the type. Right. Right? So it can be written, it can be oral and you can have several witnesses,

but it's also the most commonly challenged one because mental capacity is frequently argued like this person didn't know what they were talking about or somebody had their feeding tube kinked so they did it under duress, you know? Yeah. There is a holographic will, Josh, very informal. Handwritten usually.

This is the coolest looking will. That's right, it's not a hologram. Not all states recognize these as valid. So as always, check with your state. But a scenario where this might happen is you wreck your car on a snowy road in the middle of nowhere and you're like, I'm gonna die and I'm gonna scratch out my will.

Or you pee it into the snow. That would be awesome. Or if you're James Franco or that real dude and you're stuck in a boulder, you could probably videotape it, although I think holographic is strictly handwritten. Yeah. So that would be an oral death bed will sort of.

Commonly written in blood. But he lived. In one's own blood. Right. Yeah, that's a pretty cool one. I said it was cool. Yes. Yeah.

I think that's the coolest one. Oh, you think so? Yeah, the impending death by oneself. Yeah. You just scratch it out on whatever paper you have and then succumb to the elements. I think that's neat. Because think about it.

You're thinking about the people you love and in some way they're there with you right then. Yeah, but what if you're saying I don't wanna leave any of those no good Nerdy Wells anything? Well, then you deserve to freeze to death. Okay. There's the DIY will, which you mentioned. You can get on the internet or I guess at Staples.

Yeah. You can get the forms. Yeah. Self probating wills can save you a little time. Well, this is the ironclad will, right? I think so. So this is the one where you hire a lawyer to draft it at the very least review it,

but probably you've hired a lawyer to draft your will a couple hundred bucks from what I understand. Oh, really? And the witnesses sign affidavits ahead of time that are part of the will saying like, yes, this guy did say this. So you don't have to, these witnesses don't have to appear in probate court

to testify that this is the correct will. Right. So it expedites the whole process. It makes it more difficult to challenge. And basically it's the bada-boom, bada-bing of wills. Don't contest me, baby, is what it says at the bottom. And since we're talking about contesting and changing, that happens all the time, totally legal.

The only person that can change a will is the testator. Why is that funny? That's like Hodgman says complainant and defendant. Does he? And this is Judge John Hodgman. Yeah. Testator. So the testator is the only person that can do this.

That's very common. A lot of reasons, you might have a new kid, you might get divorced, you might get married. You might start hating your kid. You might start hating your kid. The tax laws might change in your favor. She can tweak it a bit. You might, all of a sudden, you might win the lottery

and think, oh, you know what? I might want to rethink how my will is read at this point. Or you might just feel like, you know what? I'm kind of old and my kids are doing okay. So I'd rather just leave my money to some great charities. That's a nice thing to do. Yeah, Bill Gates, he's leaving the line, share of his dough to charity.

Oh, yeah. Well, he's alive even. That's right. And okay, so let's say that your elderly parent dies and you decide that he or she is obviously crazy because he or she left his or her money to charity. Right. Right?

You can challenge this, right? That's right. And there are a number of ways to challenge it, but it's, first of all, it's a very difficult, long and expensive process. Yeah. You have real solid evidence of one of maybe several points that could possibly overturn a will.

It's gonna be, you're not gonna win. Yeah, and not anyone can challenge, like Joe Schmo off the street, or let's say you, I couldn't challenge your will and say, but Josh was my podcast partner. I'm saying, you know, it doesn't matter. I don't know. You could technically be a person of legal standing,

which is what you have to be to challenge a will. You either have to be someone who is in the will and you're challenging it like, I got reamed. This is terrible. I want more money than this. What is your problem? But you can't challenge on fairness. I mean, you can do it, but you won't win.

Thank you for correcting me. You could be like somebody who's holding this guy's feeding to, you know, this is, so that's when you could challenge on, or you could be someone who should've been in the will, e.g. a podcaster. I would think it's usually a family member though. You probably have to be a blood relative. Blood or maybe marriage, but I'm sure

if you're a blood relative, it helps make you, it helps your position as a person of legal standing more. I'm gonna challenge your will like when we're in our 80s. And this is gonna be like some sort of proof that I agree you should be a person of legal standing at least. We'll be like the sunshine boys. Like we haven't spoken in 30 years

and like our children are trying to get us together for more show, yeah? Did you ever see that? No, that was a good one. But I laughed anyway. All right. And by the way, I'm leaving all my stuff to you, me. So you can challenge it all you want, pal,

but I just contradicted your challenge. And this is gonna stand up and put, you know, cause this is a very public thing. I would think that this would work, yeah. I wouldn't challenge you, me. She can have it all. Okay. She can have your junk.

That's a good junk. If you do, you do, Josh, have good junk. If you do challenge it, what you're gonna, you can either rewrite it completely, revoke the original, or add something called a codicell to your existing will. It's just like an addendum basically. Oh, that's if you want to change your will.

Yeah. But if you want to challenge it. Well. Well, there's very few grounds. So right, the will is forged is one. Yeah. That it didn't meet the requirements of the state. Yeah.

Like maybe the state requires two witnesses and there's only one. Right. It didn't, the person was coerced, the testitor. Right. Was coerced with the kink in the feeding tube. The testitor was a victim of fraud. What would that be?

I don't know. Like maybe the person who drew up the will wasn't really a lawyer, but charged lawyer's fees. Oh, okay. Yeah, maybe so. That would be fraud, right? And then lastly, the beneficiary doesn't approve the executor.

And this could be like the executor is maybe the fraudulent attorney. Yeah. It can't just be like, she borrowed my pearl necklace once and never gave it back. There's no way she can execute as a state. Right. And I didn't get stats, but the general feeling I get

is that wills are pretty tough to overturn. And less like you said, there's some pretty blatant egregious errors or fraud going on. And if it is rejected, then they just go to the state law, which is, you know, your wife gets this percentage, your firstborn gets this percentage and on down the line. Okay. And that's as if you had died without a will.

That's how they treat it. Which is called dying in testate. Yeah, I never heard that word. Okay, so let's say that you, let's say that you really, your kid, it just really turns out to be a jerk. You did everything you could, but you just don't like your kid.

You nurtured, you nurtured, you nurtured, and then nature won out. It's like Sean Penn in the game before he went through the game. Oh yeah. Like that kind of guy. Okay. All right.

Okay. You can cut your kid out of the will, but there's, you have to follow a specific guideline, and that guideline is you officially have to disinherit your kid. Yeah, and I was surprised. It's easier to write your child out of your will than your spouse.

Yeah, and you brought the child into the world. You married the spouse. I was surprised by that too, Chuck. Yeah. Like you said, you disinherit a child for, unless you have some sort of ironclad prenup, then your spouse, husband or wife, is gonna be getting some dough probably.

A third or a half, generally, is the way to go. Yeah. So, spouses are tough, kids are easy, right? But most lawyers will be like, don't do that. Do not just disinherit, and don't try to cut your spouse out. It's gonna make you look like a jerk. It's gonna make a judge overturn your will.

Here's what you do. You give them each 50 cents, right? Pretty horrible, right? Because that didn't make you look like a jerk. No, it doesn't, but you put in an interim clause that says that if they challenge the will, that they forfeit everything. And you know what that means in Latin?

It means in order to frighten. So basically it's saying, you know, it's trying to scare someone off. Right, so the 50 cents thing wouldn't work, right? You wanna leave them enough so that they are, they're gonna have what they need. But they're still offended. Like, exactly, right, yeah.

So like they're like, well, I could buy $5,000 worth of crack with that $5,000. Maybe I should just stick with this, you know? Yeah, yeah. Divorce can complicate things, obviously. Some states renders the will invalid, but most times just the parts where the spouse is in there will be addressed.

So the bequest is what the people get. The beneficiaries are the people who get bequests. I actually figured out like a pretty good sentence to explain all this. The beneficiary receives a bequest from the testator's will in probate court at the behest of the executor. That's so clever.

Thank you. Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha. Got it. On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s, called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses

and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and nonstop references to the best decade ever.

Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting Frosted Tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL Instant Messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's beeper,

because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s, called on the iHeart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough, or you're at the end of the road. Ah, okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself,

what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place, because I'm here to help. This, I promise you. Oh, God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS,

because I'll be there for you. Oh, man. And so will my husband, Michael. Um, hey, that's me. Yep, we know that, Michael. And a different hot, sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life, step by step. Oh, not another one.

Kids, relationships, life in general can get messy. You may be thinking, this is the story of my life. Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, yeah, everybody, about my new podcast, and make sure to listen, so we'll never, ever have to say. Bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. So the beneficiaries are all going to get slapped with what is called a death tax. Really, it's called an estate tax. But opponents of the estate tax, the rich, basically created this other name for it called the death tax, which is like,

you're being taxed to die. You're not actually being taxed to die. Your estate's not even being taxed. Your beneficiaries' bequests are what are taxed. The thing is, it's a lot. You know what I call it? What? One final little mm from the government.

From Uncle Sam. It's like, you paid your whole life, you paid your whole life. You died on the battlefield. And then, we're going to get some more tax. And it's hefty. Yeah, well, I mean, part of the reason why the estate tax is around is to prevent dynasties

from taking place. But the problem is, with all the loopholes, tax shelters, that kind of stuff, the rich are the only ones who can afford to get around from paying estate taxes. So that kind of goes under the middle class and it prevents middle class dynasties from being formed. But you know, it's really weird. What?

I cannot describe to you how severe the level of deja vu I have right now is. Really? Have we had a conversation about estate taxes in that same vein? I don't think so, but we've done a podcast on deja vu. Well, then prepare for some really vitriolic listener mail from that one.

Oh, really? Because in my deja vu memory, yeah, that ticked people off. What? Because you said that only the rich people can know about these loopholes? Well, they can afford accountants that can figure out these loopholes, lawyers, that kind of thing.

So you ain't going to get that at the 695 Staples package? No. No, it actually says, good luck with the death taxes, pal. So Chuck, if you are a person living in, I think, 2006 in the United States and you inherited over $10,050, what did you pay? $25.96, close to $3,000. That's just for inheriting $10,051, right?

Yeah, well, that's the base thing. Then you have to pay an additional 35% over and above the $10,050. So let me ask you that. Is that 35% on the whole thing, or 35% on the whole thing minus $10,050? That's a good question, and I don't know. And I'm sure some smart attorney will say, here's

how it is, guys. But if you're inheriting $1 million, who cares? Yeah, well, that's a lot of change, though. That's like $350, right, on $10,000? Yes, Josh, you're indeed right, $1 million, who cares? So there's the death taxes? You can set up a trust. That is one good way to maybe pay fewer taxes

if smart people often set up a trust, rich people often set up trust. Well, it also keeps your, you don't have to be rich, though. I've looked into trust, it's about $2,000 to set up a trust. Yeah, yeah, it's. And this number one, it's very speedy, it keeps it out of probate court. Like when you die, you're dying wishes

that are a part of your will, that are incorporated into this trust. That's that, right? So all of your stuff gets divvied up right away. It stays out of court. Yeah, and if you have a minor in your family, a lot of times you'll set up a trust. Because if you don't set up a trust,

the court is going to assign, or there will be a conservator who will oversee the assets of the minor in, I think, 18 to 21, generally in most states, as when a minor can all of a sudden handle their own finances. But if you set up a trust, it's managed by the trust store. And they'll handle it for your kid. Yeah, whoever that person is.

I would imagine someone just as trustworthy as the executor. Maybe one in the same. You're right. And then Chuck, of course, there is the living will, right? Yeah, and there's a whole article on living wills, but so we won't get into it too specifically, but a living will has nothing to do with your monies

and properties. It is, hey, if I'm ever in a serious accident and I'm on a ventilator, here's how I would like you to pull the plug or not pull the plug. And it's more complicated than that. Yeah, because that's line one. And line two is, if I'm ever attacked by a dog and I need a heart that my family can afford,

take, pull the plug, and then down the line, right? Yeah, and these need to be signed and witnessed and power of attorney is usually included because if you can't cover every scenario, obviously, and the power of attorney would be, let's say, you know what, I want Emily to be in charge of making this decision and not my mom, let's say. Because my mom would be like, no, he'll pull through.

And Emily would be like, eh, he doesn't look too good. She wouldn't do that, I'm just kidding. That's still funny. But yeah, a living will is very important though for anyone of any age. It can get real messy, we've seen it in the news time and time again. So yeah, get your living will taken care of.

And I think you can also just do like a blanket, like don't take any heroic measures to save me and I don't want to be on any kind of life support. Mine says, never ever unplug me. Really? I want to be a burden on my family for the rest of my life. As long as that machine can keep me alive. I want to be shaved once a week from top to bottom.

All right, that segues nicely into odd things that can happen, stipulations with your will. Nice. Is that how we should finish up? Yeah, totally. You can have requirements of your, the quest stores? No, the beneficiaries? Beneficiaries.

Yeah. Like hey- He wrote this article. I know, it was a long time ago. Like hey, I want to give my son the majority of my fortune, but he's got to finish college first. Or quit smoking, I saw. Yeah, that's a nice-

Were you thinking of me when you wrote that? I was not. You were smoking a ton back then, though. Yes, you were. So let's talk about some funny and odd things in history with Will's Josh. Finish on a lighter note. Well, there's Portuguese aristocrat,

Luis Carlos de Norona Cabral de Camara. Camara, that was terrible. And that sounded like I took a bite of peanut butter for the end. Do you want to do that one? Well, now that you said his name, I'll tell you what he did. He picked 70-

So you don't want to try that one? No. Okay. He picked 70 strangers, random strangers from a phone book in Lisbon. And at 13 years before he died and said, these are the people, but don't tell him. It's going to be just a big surprise.

Yeah. And some people thought they were being conned. Yeah. If I did that and I died, everybody, there'd be 70 strangers each getting a $1 bill. But I put in my will that it had to be crisp from the bank. Never circulated $1 bills. Don't make them feel good.

I thought you were going to say a roll of quarters or something. That's another way to go, but that's more than a dollar. Yeah, you're right. McNair Ilgren Fritz was a unsuccessful but wealthy composer. And he said, you know what, Metropolitan Opera of New York, I'll leave you $125,000 if after I die, you put on this opera I've written. And the Met said, God, we could use that money,

but no thanks. Which is like, ouch. Yeah. But they said the music, it was workable. Not like they said this is awful, I think. I guess it just wasn't in their plan. Yeah. Who else, Josh?

Who else do we have here? Oni Nurmi. Yeah. Finnish businessman. This is my favorite one. Yeah, it's nice. He apparently, late in life, made some friends at the rest home where he was dying and died, I imagine.

And he said, you know what? I'm going to leave everybody here 780 shares of a rubber boot company that I imagine I had something to do with at some point. Maybe. And that rubber boot company went on to become cell phone giant Nokia. And all of those people became millionaires.

I imagine all of those people's children or grandchildren became millionaires. Yeah. Because I don't think Nokia went from a boot company to the cell phone biz like overnight. No. But it was still very nice. It's a good story, if you ask me.

These are pretty cool, Josh. Ed Hedrick, the inventor. Well, I'm not the inventor of the Frisbee, but he's credited with perfecting the modern Frisbee. He wanted to be. He took it out of its original square shape. Exactly. He worked for WAMO, obviously.

And he said, you know what? I want my ashes to be molded into memorial version to the Frisbee and sell those and use the money from those to open up a Frisbee museum. And then another guy, a Marvel comic writer, Mark Gruenwald, said, I would like my ashes to be mixed with ink and be on a comic book. And when he died young at 42, there

were 4,000 ink and ashes issues of squadron supreme printed. Yeah. Wouldn't you be disappointed if that was the one you got printed in? I would. Well, that was probably his comic. I want to be in the punisher. It was probably his comic, though.

I still want to be in the punisher. I want to be in a better comic. Yeah. And who else? Dusty Springfield, shall we mention her? Hers is kind of neat. I guess. It's kind of silly.

She had a cat named Nickwis. And Nickwis had a favorite meal, which was imported baby food. So she left the singer of Son of a Preacher Man. She said, you know what? Nickwis is going to lay on my nightgown for the rest of Nickwis' life. And my music is going to be played. And lifetime supply of that cat food for Nickwis.

Yeah. And then Leona Helmsley left $15 million to her dog for the care of her dog. You can't actually leave money to an animal. You can stipulate in your will that this money is for the care of this animal, or something, right? She left a couple of grandkids, nothing. And then there was the tree that owns itself in Athens.

Oh, yeah. The elderly couple that died, or the elderly woman that died, and left this piece of land apparently set up a trust for the tree, so that it can never be cut down or removed. And actually, if you drive along the street, you have to go around the roundabout that's built around the tree that owns itself.

Yeah, it's got a little placard and a little chain around it. And that tree grows up to the center of City Hall. And that tree grew up to be Roy Cone. I got nothing else. I don't either. If you want to read a fine article written by a young, strapping Charles W. Bryant when he first came to HowStuffWorks.com, just type how wills work into the handy

search bar at HowStuffWorks.com. That, of course, brings up listener mail. All right, Josh, I know you're going to balk at this, because we have another request from a boyfriend trying to get his girl. No. No. No.

I feel so bad for Timmy, though. All right, go ahead. All right, Timmy, before we read this, dude, if you don't get back in touch with us and let us know what happened, we will find you. Yeah, you're dead to me. Even though we can't find the other guy,

we will find you, Timmy. Yeah, and since we mentioned it, other guy who we proposed. We don't like you anymore. Or just what happened there, dude? People are clamoring to know. All right, to my beloved Josh and Chuck and Jerry. Since 2009, let me skip ahead to the interesting part. OK.

Jerry's cracking up today. Guys have been a big fan since 2009. One big thing that has changed since that time was I found an absolutely brilliant girlfriend. She also loves you guys. We would spend our nights together, falling asleep listening, stuff you should know. She would fill me in on bits I missed.

Sounds like a very sweet thing. Unfortunately, recently, we were having a rough time of things, sort of lost perspective, and the spark faded. Let me go ahead and tell you, Timmy, do the spark. Like, that spark always fades. You've got to have something else going on there. Substantial. Model airplanes is a good one.

So we both amicably agreed that it would be easier to split after 18 months together. And the best thing, we both do the same university. We have the same courses at times. Where is this guy from? He must be English or something. We still chat a lot, and I really miss her, though. And I know she misses me, too.

You don't know that, Timmy. You're about to find out. We were great together and just needed this time apart to sort out our heads and commit back to one another. What I would like to do, guys, is for you to say to Elaine, would you please get back with Timmy? Go back out with him. He's boyfriend again.

I'm sorry, girlfriend. I know she'll be listening. It would be a great way of me showing her how much I still care, or you could just talk to her. That's another thing, or that he's watching her. I don't think we'll do many more of these. I love her. I want to spend my future with her.

I would be really grateful for this. So that's the deal. Timmy says much love. Elaine, take him back. Or don't. Either way, Timmy, please let us know what happens so we can follow up and tell people what happened with the Timmy and Elaine saga.

And that is it. That is as dead as haiku and disco. We are not doing that anymore. Never again. No. All right, agreed. OK. Thanks a lot, Timmy.

Good luck to you forever. All right? Chuck, are you OK with that? No, I'm fine, because it just gets out of hand. We're asking people out on a first date all of a sudden. Hey, can you tell my friend Joe to pick up the tab every now and then? I'm OK with that one.

OK. Yeah, that's fine. You know how I feel about freeloaders. All right, well then, let's call for that in the email. No, we'll do that. They'll send them anyway. All right, so if you know a story about a crazy will, a crazy stipulation in a will, I love those.

I can't get enough of them. So let's hear them, right? Yeah, real ones. Yeah, well, yeah, don't make them up. Jerks. We want to hear it. You can put it on Facebook. Stuff you should know.

Facebook? Facebook.com slash stuff you should know. Yeah. SYSK Podcast, that's our Twitter handle. And you can send us an email at stuffpodcast at howstuffworks.com. Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works.

For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows. On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called, David Lacher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces.

We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast,

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