No, we are not talking about the last will and testament of the Marvel Comics character so tenderly played by Anna Paquin in the X-Men movies. We are talking about the will that seems to fall out of the sky, that a clerk in a Victorian topcoat brings in to a family meeting just after the patriarch has died, saying, "Wait! There is another!" And the clerk (pronounced "clark") reveals that the patriarch had called his trusted manservant to his deathbed and asked him to take down these dying words: "I wish my elder son to have no part of my fortune or vast estates and orange groves in Florida. It shall all go to my younger son and his plucky little bride who have shown me every kindness and treated me with blah blah blah."

That's when the shrewish spouse (arranged marriage) of the elder son jumps up and cries, "We shall contest this will! This is an outrage! Papa [paPAH] was not in his right mind!" Slow dissolve to younger son and wife strolling among the blossoming orange trees.

In real life, of course, these wills can be problematic. A recent court decision in another state, though, made even Miami's probate veterans raise an eyebrow -- and younger sons raise a glass.

This case involved a new will, dictated to a friend within hours of the testator burning his existing will. The old will left a good deal of his estate to his ex-girlfriend. The new will stated that the testator revoked the earlier will, that the ex-girlfriend and another woman would get nothing, and that his son and daughter were to get everything. He also granted his son and daughter power of attorney over everything he owned.

But the names of the son and daughter were misspelled, and the document was not signed by a witness.

[cue anticipatory music] We'll continue this in our next post.

Source: Wall Street Journal, "California court gives 'rogue' wills more validity," Arden Dale, 06/20/2011