Ashley Flotte’s Legal Blog

A man is laying in his hospital bed dying of a terminal illness. He calls in his lawyer, his doctor, and his priest and announces to the group: “Gentleman, I am going to die soon and I have made a decision. There is no one I wish to leave my estate to and I have decided I am taking it with me. Hence, I am giving you each $50,000 in cash that you are to place in my casket before they lower me into the ground. Are we understood?” The three gentlemen agreed, and three days later, the man died.

A few days later there was a funeral followed by a burial ceremony and a reception. The lawyer and the doctor were having a cocktail while the priest nervously paced back and forth in the reception area. Finally the priest approached the other two advisors and declared, “I cannot keep it inside of me any longer. I did not put the whole $50,000 into the casket. I used $25,000 to make some repairs to the rectory.” The doctor replied, “Well as long as it’s out on the table, I didn’t put the whole 50 in, either. I put 30 thousand into my clinic.” The lawyer glared at the other two with disgust and said, “You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Do you realize that casket holds my personal check for $50,000?”