What would you do?
By fotojunkie
@fotojunkie (115)
United States
May 26, 2008 11:21pm CST
You are a nurse at a busy hospital and Mr. Jones, a wealthy, prominent man, is brought into the emergency room. He is in critical condition and you are the last person to speak with him before he dies. You believe that he was mentally incompetent during the last few hours of his life, but during that time he has rewritten his Last Will and Testament. In the will he very viciously attacks every member of his family - his wife and children - and reveals that he was actually born a woman. He then cuts his family out of his will and leaves his entire fortune to a psychic chatline. Mr. Jones, after writing the entire will by hand (which makes it a legally binding document) gives it to you with the instructions that you are to make sure that it gets to his attorney. You know that the document will likely be thrown out of court because of his mental state when he penned it, but not before it does irrepairable damage to Mrs. Jones and their children.
Do you give the will to the lawyer?
4 responses
@headhunter525 (3548)
• India
27 May 08
I think I would not promise to give it to his attorney. And since I have not promised, I think it is right for me not to deliver it to his attorney if I knew that the will would be doing so much damage to people.
@fotojunkie (115)
• United States
30 May 08
That is an interesting twist. By refusing you are not promising, therefore you are not bound by the promise to deliver it to the lawyer.
Is it right to refuse to give it to the lawyer? Would you try to reason with him to make him see the damage he is doing to his family?
@travibabiesgirl (1690)
• United States
31 May 08
I think I have to agree with this statement. I also think that I would try to talk him out of hurting his family like that. He could have been mad at that precise moment and made a rash decision that normally he would not have made.
@fotojunkie (115)
• United States
30 May 08
Totally hypothetical.
If the lawyer gets it, the family will almost certainly learn the contents.
Tough call, isn't it?
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
27 May 08
I would give it to the lawyer as he wished. The lawyer would very likely dismiss it, as the will is not notorized and in all likely hood the wealthy man was not of sound mind and body when he wrote it. Also any legal document requires a signature of a witness. If you were the only one that saw the document and you did not sign as a witness it is not legaly binding. You can write a will by hand, but unless it is notorized and witnessed it is just a peice of paper.
@fotojunkie (115)
• United States
30 May 08
Well different states have different laws regarding the validity of a will and not all of them require it to be notorized.
I can see honoring the man's last wishes since the will would likely be thrown out of court, but wouldn't it be difficult to hand it over knowing the damage and pain it would cause to his wife and children?
@miracleman2008 (173)
• United States
27 May 08
I would go ahead and give it to the laywer, and let him take on all the problems thats about to happen.That way your mind could be at ease.
