"Trick or Treating" in Estate Planning -The Lesson of Francis Ogden

 "Trick of Treating" in Estate Planning - The Lesson of Francis Ogden

October 30, 2020

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

In a hushed whisper my 10 year old daughter called me over to the school desk she uses for remote learning.  "Hey mom, listen to this....it's about a guy who wrote fake wills".  Intrigued by the subject matter, one that squarely falls into my wheelhouse (unlike the advanced math both of kids are taking), I stepped out of work mode and into 5th grader curiosity.

A round of applause is needed for the Madison Metropolitan School District for making the annual 5th Grade Field Trip to the historic Forest Hills Cemetery here in Madison a reality.  Due to Covid19, the field trip this year was virtual, and allowed me to join in on the lessons.

I had never heard of Francis Ogden before.  He moved to Madison in the mid 1800s, and grew a financial empire in real estate and oil holdings in Texas.  Known as the richest man in town, he left Madison after a few spats with the City of Madison over their rejection of land he offered to donate for a library (they did not care for the location) and regulations surrounding his hotel, The Ogden Hotel.  Claiming he had had enough of Madison, he moved to Texas.

Known as an eccentric man, he fed that reputation by taking on a new habit while living in Texas.  Apparently he enjoyed writing wills, in pencil, without witnessing and handing them out to various people including relatives (he never married and had no children) as well as people he had just met, promising them his riches.  When he died many people came forward with those pencil written wills seeking to inherit. He thought he had had the last laugh.

The video fails to tell is what happened to his estate.  My guess, Texas State Statutes (where he was a resident) controlled is intestate estate, likely distributing the assets to his closets living relatives.  But that's a guess.  In the end, his tricks turned on him.  Estate planning is about taking control of who is in charge and where assets go.  Upon his death, Ogden's Wisconsin relatives opted to have him buried at Forest Hills Cemetery, in the heart of the city he despised and moved away from, giving him the cheapest monument possible at the time -one made of zinc.  Writing a valid will is about taking control of the what and the who.  Sadly, Odgen's games landed him back in Madison, for perpetuity. 

Check out this video put together by Wisconsin's Veterans Museum for its Talk Spirits Tour.