Darling, It'll All Be Yours--Soon

Life is full of unintended consequences; now, so is death. It requires planning--and this creates room for miscalculation. Celebrities, business tycoons and political leaders have often sought to make statements in death, as attorney Herbert Nass writes in his book "Wills of the Rich and Famous." Thomas Jefferson left his library to the University of Virginia; Groucho Marx "expressly" disinherited three ex-wives; Houdini left instructions for embalming, indicating "that he would someday perform the ultimate trick and return from the dead." Now this fate--the opportunity to say something about your life in death--falls to more of the middle class. But take heed. Pitfalls abound. "Money," says DiFuria, the San Francisco therapist, "can do some pretty ugly things."

© 2000