Alexander A. Bove - The Complete Book of Wills, Estates & Trusts

I have nothing, I owe a great deal; the rest I give to the poor.

the will of Rabelais, a fifteenth-century satirist

Was Rabelais serious, or was this just another example of his wonderful satire? Did this single sentence make a valid will? Whether it did or not, it certainly helped immortalize Rabelais, since it is hard to find a discussion of wills that does not make mention of his. Rabelais, no doubt, would have been immortalized regardless of his will, since he left the world so much more in the form of his literary works. But for those of us who leave little more than some money and a few greedy relatives, the fact is that a colorful or unusual will may offer some prospect of immortality that we would not have otherwise. Although the world of wills can be colorful, however, it can also be grim. A will can be a source of security to a family or it can bankrupt them, as we will see.

Most people know, or at least think they know, what a will is, and they generally treat a will with a certain degree of respect. After all, wills are almost universally regarded as a sort of permanent memorial, a persons final statement to the world, offering, in many cases, a touch of immortality. A perfect illustration of this is the will of Alfred Nobel, who truly immortalized himself through the provisions of his will. Just a year before his death in 1896, Nobel wrote out his will, which, despite its humble and relatively simple language, gave birth to one of the most widely known and respected memorials in the worldthe Nobel Prize. This is what he wrote that formed the foundation for the prize:

The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prize for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiological or medical works by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.

Paris, November 27, 1895

Alfred Bernhard Nobel

Through this simple will, carefully handwritten by Nobel himself (as allowed in Sweden) in the Swedish language, Nobel thought, no doubt, that he had included all the necessary provisions to carry out his now-famous plan. Actually, Nobels will was very poorly drafted (he disliked lawyers and, therefore, decided to write it himself) and resulted in protracted legal battles, requiring the court to clarify and interpret important issues relating to, among other things, the selection of candidates and awarding of the prizes. Nevertheless, after years of court proceedings in several different countries and about a half-million dollars (a respectable fortune in those days) in fees, legacies, and expenses, the remainder went to establish permanent immortality for Nobel.