Taxation & Estate Planning

Huck Finn and Holographic Wills

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

I'm rereading Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is great fun. In Chapter 25, Huck and Jim's traveling companions, the scam artists known as the Duke and the Dauphin, impersonate the brothers (Harvey and William) of a recently deceased rich man named Peter Wilks. But before that, in Chapter 24, we learn a little about Peter Wilks' estate plan:

"[Peter Wilks] most desperately wanted to see Harvey -- and William too, for that matter -- because he was one of them kind that can't bear to make a will. He left a letter behind for Harvey, and said he'd told in it where his money was hid, and how he wanted the rest of the property divided up.... And that letter was all they could get him to put a pen to."

As I've said before, hand-written Wills are perfectly fine in Illinois, but all Wills have to be witnessed by at least two witnesses. If a hand-written letter like this was found in the case of an Illinois decedent, it would not be considered a valid Will, even if it clearly indicated the decedent's wishes. Why? Because the stakes are so high (involving the distribution of all of the decedent's property), the proof required for a valid Will is equally high.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on May 19, 2008 (boomark / email).