When Cassie returns from a getaway with her husband and son, she walks into her home to see a cryptic message from her mother — telling her to watch a video. As Cassie presses play, her entire life changes. In the end, she’s left wondering which of her parents are worthy of forgiveness.
In my eyes, my father could do no wrong. He was everything I needed him to be and more. He was a businessman who was always traveling, but he ensured that he made enough time for me.
“You’re my little girl, Cassie,” he would say, bopping my nose with his index finger. “You’re the most special.”
A father carrying his daughter | Source: Pexels
My parents always went out of their way for me — ensuring that despite their busy schedules, we would have family dinner almost every night.
It was the one thing that kept me grounded while both of my friends from school were in the middle of their parents’ messy divorces.
“I think it’s trendy now,” I told my mother as she cut slices of banana bread for me after school one day.
Sliced banana bread | Source: Unsplash
“Cas, you cannot think that divorce is trendy,” she laughed. “It’s devastating and traumatic, and very few families actually keep things civil.”
“I’m just saying that it’s trendy because a lot of kids live between two homes,” I explained to her. “It’s one of those things we were talking about in class today.”
I was fourteen, and the world seemed more dramatic than it should have been.
A smiling girl in a hoodie | Source: Pexels
But what I didn’t know was that my words seemed to be an incantation that settled over our home.
A few weeks after that conversation, my father went away on a business trip. A few hours after he had been gone, there was news of his passing.
“How?” I asked. “How did he die?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Cassie,” she replied. “I’m just saying what the paramedics told me.”
Two paramedics standing | Source: Pexels
“So what will we do next?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked, puzzled by the question.
“For the funeral?” I asked. “Aren’t we going to have one?”
“I don’t think so,” my mother replied. “Dad wanted to be cremated and have his ashes spread at the beach. Let’s do that instead.”
A black and white urn | Source: Pexels
I couldn’t fathom why my mother would want to do that — but at the end of the day, she knew my father best. And the longer I thought about it, the more beautiful and sentimental a private ceremony at the beach felt.
“Don’t be difficult, Cassie,” my mother said when she saw me thinking about my next move.
“I’m not,” I said. “Really. I was just thinking about it. It’s a great idea, Mom.”
A pathway to the beach | Source: Unsplash
I could have fought her for a send-off that I thought would have been more appropriate. But what use would it have been? At the end of the day, we had both lost him.
The months following the beach ceremony felt weighted, and I knew that I was becoming deeply depressed — my father had been our world. And his absence was felt more than anything.
But, with time, I learned to live with it.
A girl sitting on the floor and looking out the window | Source: Pexels
Last week, I decided to book a cabin in the woods for a little family vacation. My son was adamant that camping was the new best thing, and I knew that despite the wonders of nature, I wasn’t going to camp in a tent without a bathroom in sight.
Instead, I thought that a cabin would be the best option — my husband, Derek, could camp outside with Drew, our son, if he insisted on it.
A cabin in the woods | Source: Unsplash
We had a dog, therefore, I asked my mother to house-sit for the week so that we could be at peace, knowing that Romeo was taken care of.
A week away was more than enough to restore my mind — and eventually, when we went back home, I was surprised to see that my mother wasn’t there. In fact, it looked like she had never been there.
A dog lying on the grass | Source: Unsplash
But there, on the coffee table, was a note beneath the TV remote.
Watch this, Cassie. I’m sorry. — Mom
I didn’t know what was in store for me, but while Derek got Drew into the bath, I put the TV on and began to watch whatever my mother had planned.
The TV flickered to life, and there he was, my father, his voice a long-lost melody, his image aged but still, unmistakably him.
A person holding a TV remote | Source: Unsplash
Tears streamed down my face as the realization that he was still alive enveloped me in a mix of joy and disbelief.
The video message was nothing short of unpredictable.
My dear Cassie, I’m still here, alive. I’m so sorry for the pain that you must have felt from my loss. But it was needed. I needed to be removed from your life because of the sordid truth of my past. Your mother knows everything, please ask her for the truth.
My health is on a steady decline, and I would love to see you and explain it all.
Love you, Dad.
An old man | Source: Pexels
Without telling Derek or Drew anything, I grabbed the car keys and ran out. I needed my mother to explain.
“So, I bet you’ve got questions for me,” she said, opening the door.
“Explain it all,” I said.
“Cassie, it’s heavy. You look tired from your trip; are you sure you want to do this now?” she asked.
I nodded. It was now or never. I needed to know why my father faked his own death to get out of our lives.
My mother made us some tea and took out some shortbread.
Shortbread cookies on a plate | Source: Unsplash
“Darling,” she said. “I’ll understand if you don’t forgive me, but there’s so much about that time that I need to tell you.”
I sipped my tea, trying to figure out what my mother was about to tell me.
“I remember that you were telling me about your friend’s parents getting divorced. Do you remember that?” she asked.
I nodded. Of course, I did. It was the strangest thing, but it was so common when I was in school.
“Well, your father and I were not legally married. So when I told him about our conversation regarding divorce, he was actually relieved. Without being married, there would be no divorce.”
A marriage certificate | Source: Unsplash
“What’s the big deal?” I asked.
“Then I found out that the real reason that we didn’t get married was because your father was already married to another woman.”
“What?” I exclaimed, almost dropping my cup. “To who?”
“To a woman in the town where he always had his business trips.”
“You didn’t know?” I asked, unable to believe her words.
A couple showing off their wedding rings | Source: Unsplash
“Of course not!” she exclaimed. “But when I pressed him about it, he decided to choose that family over us. So, I told him that the story was going to be his death.”
We were both silent for a moment.
Turns out that my mother told him that she would never tell me the truth, not when he was my favorite person. She couldn’t burst my bubble in that way. And she refused to let him see me one more time.
“It was better for you to think that it was an accident,” my mother said. “It just made more sense.”
Now, I understood why we didn’t have a funeral for him.
“What did we throw into the sea, then?” I asked.
“Dust,” she replied with a straight face.
A cloud of dust | Source: Unsplash
My mother had spoken to him twice over the years. The second time being a day ago.
During their meeting, my father confessed his imminent death due to illness and requested that she give me the recording. My mother, torn by guilt and love, chose to write me the note and have the recording all set for me to watch.
“I would have taken the secret to my grave,” she said. “But knowing that he was ill and wanted to see you just struck something in me.”
A cemetery | Source: Pexels
Compelled by a need to confront the reality of my father’s existence, I traveled to the state where he lived with his other family.
I spent a few weeks with my father — going in and out of hospitals, watching him take an array of different medication, and growing weaker by the day.
Sitting at his bedside, I listened to his stories, the regrets, the moments of joy, and the love he had for all his children — myself included.
When things started to go downhill, I asked Derek to fly over with Drew. It was going to be a fleeting moment, but at least I’d know that my son had met my father.
A sick old man | Source: Pexels
A few days later, my father died.
Even now, I don’t know if I’ve forgiven him for the lie of having a double life. I just know that when it came to it in the end — I wanted to spend time with him. I had shoved my feelings aside, hoping for memories that I could figure out later.
But now that the dust has settled, I’m trying to figure out if I should forgive my mother for lying.
Flowers on a grave | Source: Pexels
What would you do?
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
People Reveal the Craziest Wills They Ever Saw
From disowning a child to secretly leaving everything to a stranger, people have written many unexpected things in their wills that are only revealed to their family members after their demise. Many times, people have used this closing act to take revenge on their loved ones.
With age, many people tend to think about what would happen to their loved ones after death. They know there’s only much they can do to support them, and with that comes the thought of writing a will. The final document decides what would happen to their assets and property after their death.
A document with the title “Last Will and Testament” | Source: Shutterstock
Many people write their will when they are healthy and doing fine, but others do it after the doctors tell them they don’t have much time to live. Some divide their assets into parts and leave them for their close ones, while others write something unpredictable that shocks their family.
Netizens on Reddit shared some of the craziest and most bizarre things people wrote in their wills. Many of their family members had no idea what was coming their way.
Comments have been edited for clarity and grammar.
1. The Unexpected Trust Fund
A fish in a fishbowl | Source: Pexels
u/scarlett_pimpernel: I am a qualified solicitor. A lady wanted to create a trust fund of £100,000 for her pet fish. When I asked if it was a particular type of fish, she confirmed it was just an ordinary goldfish.
She wanted it to be fed fresh avocado daily and looked after by a local dog walker after she died. She was absolutely serious.
2. No One Knows about Her
An older woman looking at a young girl | Source: Shutterstock
u/scarlett_pimpernel: Another lady confessed she had a secret daughter and wanted to leave the daughter some money and photographs without the rest of her family finding out. Even her husband does not know. That will be a fun conversation when she passes away.
3. The Lucky Man
A bus driver | Source: Shutterstock
u/mommy5dearest: I worked at an attorney’s office, and a little older lady gave her house and belongings to a bus driver.
She did it because he was nice to her and would help her. We were all waiting for hell to break loose when her family found out.
Her family can contest it. I was a witness to the signing. She seemed fine and knew the answers to the questions, so she wasn’t having mental problems as far as we could tell.
4. The Interesting Clause
A lawyer talking to a man | Source: Shutterstock
u/WanderCold: I was in my early twenties when I was forced to write a will because of the health insurance I got at work. I discussed it with the in-house lawyer, who approved this specific clause to be added to my will.
The clause read, “My funeral wishes are that I should be buried in a coffin which has been springloaded, such that opening the coffin would cause alarm to future archeologists.”
Then, a bunch of stuff about if this is too costly, I’d be cremated and have my ashes scattered in a specific place.
5. Don’t Forget My Horse!
A woman riding a horse | Source: Shutterstock
u/gabberrella24: I work in probate. The oddest thing I’ve seen in a will is to euthanize their beloved horse, have it cremated, and its ashes scattered with the decedent.
Lucky for her horse, she named a horse that was already dead when she passed away, so the one she got afterward lived to see another farm.
6. A List of Strange Wills
A dog sleeping on a bed | Source: Shutterstock
u/PirateRobotNinjaofDe: Lots of people send their friends and family on weird errands to spread their ashes (leaving money for people to take trips and spread their ashes around the world).
Pet trusts are a fun one. People leave a whole whack of money in a trust to be used for the care of their pets during their life.
However, my favorite ever (that I obviously didn’t draft) was a lawyer who left the bulk of his estate (millions in today’s dollars) to whatever Toronto-area woman had the most children at a specific date some years later. I recall the winner had 10.
7. My Grandfather’s Wish
An older woman standing near a window | Source: Shutterstock
u/snoboreddotcom: A few hours after my grandfather’s death, my grandmother came to me with a navy-blue tie featuring pink elephants.
Ridiculous looking, but she said he wore it to intimidate people in business, as someone willing to wear such a ridiculous tie doesn’t care about what people think. That scares people. He wanted me to have it so I could do the same.
8. Different Wishes
A woman signing a documents | Source: Shutterstock
u/ALighterShadeOfPale: I work for a lawyer who does wills. We’ve had a lady put in her will that one of her adult sons would receive his share when he visited a dentist, and the other son would get it if he lost 70lbs.
Another lady put in her will that she wanted her cats cremated with her when she died. We told her that would not happen since human and animal remains are not cremated together. So, she settled on cremated separately and joined together, then buried together.
9. The Long Will
Close-up of a document with the title “Last Will and Testament” | Source: Shutterstock
u/ALighterShadeOfPale: Typically, wills are about ten pages long (for an average person), but a woman once wrote 56 pages.
She detailed EVERYTHING from her house to people. For example, she wrote, “wooden ladle to ____, toilet paper holder to ____, magazine basket to ____.” She did this for every single item in her house.
10. She Wanted to Be with Her Husband
A small house between trees | Source: Pexels
u/ALighterShadeOfPale: A lady told us to put in her will that she wanted to be buried on her property next to her husband. She lived on a small rural property.
It’s totally illegal to have human remains buried there. She refused to tell us whether her husband was cremated or not and said she did not want to be cremated.
Edit: Her husband had died 5 or 6 years prior. So, it’s not as though it was 50 years ago when things like that may have been a little overlooked.
11. Some Good People
A person signing a document | Source: Shutterstock
u/ALighterShadeOfPale: We had a man put in his will that his family was to go to the zoo immediately after his burial (that day). We thought that was heartwarming.
Besides that, we work with many people from a particular religion. Many people we write wills for leave at least 90% of their estates to the church instead of their families.
12. The Elvis Impersonator
A young man smiling | Source: Shutterstock
u/whatshisfaceboy: I’m not a lawyer, but I have this story of my rich uncle. He would visit us when we were kids, maybe once every ten years. The last time he did, he brought us to a Denny’s.
When he died, he had no friends. Besides that, his wife died due to substance abuse, and that was because of him. He left his entire estate to an Elvis impersonator. Everything.
13. The Only Beneficiary
A person holding money | Source: Shutterstock
u/AnotherDrunkCanadian: I used to work at a bank in the estate department. I was an administrator who had to manage the files, including encroachments upon the capital, i.e., “I want to take some money out now, please.”
I had this one account – a multi-million-dollar trust for one single beneficiary – the son of the deceased. Everything about the account looked fine until I learned the child was behind his parents’ death and pleaded insanity.
He was in a mental hospital and called the bank once a year requesting $50 for commissary (to buy chips and gum).
The call was always strange. He was very polite, but the quality of the call made it sound like he was far away from the phone.
14. They Wanted to Take Revenge
A cat sitting behind a curtain | Source: Pexels
u/Dr_BrOneil: Last week, I handled a matter where the parents left millions in artwork to various people and wads of cash to various charities. Meanwhile, their kids got the family cats as revenge.
It turned out they did it because the kids got them the cats to comfort the parents in their old age. The parents hated the cats, but the kids wouldn’t let them get rid of them.
15. He Wanted to Give Them Something
An older man walking on a street | Source: Shutterstock
u/gaurddog: My great uncle’s official will stated that the contents of his outhouse would go to the City Council of a nearby town after they had tried to take his land twice to build a new water treatment plant.
He spent several years fighting eminent domain claims and wanted to give them something in return. As a joke, his kids boxed up all the books and magazines in the outhouse and dropped them off at City Hall.
16. The Man Was Clueless
A man leaning against a taxi | Source: Pexels
u/[deleted]: I am not a lawyer but work for a will writers/trusts specialist in the UK, currently studying toward my TEP.
One of our earlier clients passed away recently. Turns out the man she left almost everything to, including the residue of her estate–which was considerable–was her regular taxi driver.
She had also named him as her executor. He had no clue. The woman named as her executor and primary beneficiary in her previous two wills, a close friend of many years, was understandably flabbergasted and contested the will.
We responded to her solicitor’s Larke v Nugus request, informed Mr. Taxi Driver (who didn’t even know our client had passed), and the will was upheld.
The friend mentioned above was left a legacy of £5,000 if I remember correctly, but her nose was clearly out of joint.
Bonus observation: It takes a lot less than £ 5,000 being up for grabs to make families turn against each other. It can get really nasty. This is one of the most startling things I’ve learned in my short time in this business.
17. Hidden Fortune
The last will and testament | Getty Images
Deleted user: So, my grandma, bless her heart, lived in this old, run-down trailer for years. Dirt poor, but you wouldn’t know it by the way my husband acted.
He was like a cat on a hot tin roof, waiting for her to pass. He had this wild notion in his head that grandma was sitting on a hidden fortune and that he’d inherit a ticket to Easy Street when she kicked the bucket. Cut to the will reading day.
My husband’s practically rubbing his hands together, telling me, “Sugar, put on a smile, we’re about to be rolling in dough.” We get there, and the lawyer’s all business, asking, “Who’s the ‘husband’ there?” My guy steps up: “That’s me. Is there a problem?”
Then my jaw hitting the floor. The Lawyer: Not at all…The last will of grandma states that the grandma has a hidden fortune. However, it’s to be inherited by the husband only if he fulfills three specific conditions. Otherwise, the entire estate goes to the local animal shelter.”
First, he must live for a year in her old trailer, maintaining it without any modern upgrades or outside help. Second, he’s required to volunteer at the animal shelter every weekend for the next two years.
And finally, he must write a personal essay on the value of humility and compassion, to be read publicly at the shelter’s annual fundraiser.
My husband’s face turned from greedy anticipation to utter disbelief. Grandma sure knew how to teach a lesson from beyond the grave!
A man signing a document | Source: Pexels
These stories shared by Redditors prove that being a part of someone’s will can make your life better or destroy it forever. It only takes a few sentences to change people’s lives if one decides to mention them in their will. What’s the most bizarre thing you have ever read in someone’s will or heard about? We would love to know about it.
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