Howard Hughes and the Mormon Will: Final Thoughts
What if the Mormon Will was authentic? That certainly would turn Melvin Dummar into a victim. But there would also be another victim in that case: Howard Hughes. If the Mormon Will was authentic, then Mr. Hughes' wishes as a testator were not honored.
Of course, you could say that this is in part due to Mr. Hughes' own mistakes. The two biggies:
-(Self-Interest Alert!) Not having his Will prepared by a skilled estate planning attorney: Such an attorney would have made sure that the Will was properly witnessed, and could have articulated Mr. Hughes' wishes and state of mind after his death. (On a similar note, an attorney could have improved upon the language in the Mormon Will. No estate planner worth his or her salt would have allowed a testator to leave hundreds of millions of dollars to "my personal aids [sic] at the time of my death" or to "the key men of the company's [sic] I own at the time of my death." If the Mormon Will had been admitted to probate, I'm sure that extensive litigation would have been the result, as people argued over whether they qualified as personal aides or key men.)
-Not providing any type of documentation for the 1967 incident involving Mr. Dummar. When you leave property to a strange beneficiary, it's a good idea to explain why you did so. It's an even better idea to provide this explanation in writing. If Mr. Hughes had given a letter to his attorney or banker immediately following the 1967 incident, stating that Mr. Dummar rescued him and would therefore be a beneficiary under his Will, all of this litigation could have been avoided.
