Estate Planning Lessons from Fisk: Can You Really Control Your Property After You're Gone?

Estate Planning Lessons from Fisk: Can You Really Control Your Property After You're Gone?

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

December 12, 2025

If I were an Estate Planning and Probate Law Professor I would certainly use episodes of the Australian comedy Fisk to educate my students.  For example, Season Three, Episode Four, Entitled The Sandman is in the Building, finds Helen and her co-workers temporarily moved to a co-working space due to a bomb threat on their main office. While an Ethics professor would have fun mining the ethical challenges of an attorney working out a co-working space, my lesson would zero in on a conversation Helen has with a set of clients who appear to be sisters.

Glennys and Jean live together in a home Glennys owns; she had inherited it from her parents.  Jean voices her concerns to Helen saying “Glennys wants to change the will and leave the house to the church in order to curry favor with a church employee”.  Knowing that if Glennys dies first, and the house goes to the church, Jean will be homeless, she pleads with Helen.  To which Helen states to Glennys “Clearly your parents intended for you to leave the house to Jean.”  Never accept legal advice from your television, especially shows produced outside of the United States!

In the United States, typically, when a person leaves property to a beneficiary outright in their will or trust (for example, "I leave my home to my daughter, Glennys"), the beneficiary receives what is known as a fee simple absolute interest. This legal wording is the highest and most complete form of ownership recognized in the law.  The property is conveyed "free of any restrictions on alienation."  Alienation means the act of transferring, selling, or gifting the property.  In this scenario, Glennys owns the property completely. The property becomes part of her estate, not her parents'. She has the absolute right to sell it, mortgage it, or name anyone she wishes—Jean, the church, or a complete stranger—as the ultimate beneficiary in her own will.

The parents' "intent" that the property should eventually go to Jean is reduced to nothing more than a non-binding moral request once Glennys takes full legal title. The original owners' wishes do not legally "bind the hands" of the new owner.

If the goal is truly to ensure the property follows a specific path—to Glennys for her life, and then certainly to Jean—the parents should have used an estate planning mechanism that gives Jane less than fee simple absolute ownership.  For example:

• Using a Trust with Specific Distribution Terms:  The property is titled to a Trust. The Trust document outlines the precise, mandatory distribution schedule.  The wording might say "The Trustee shall allow my daughter, Glennys, to live in the home for the rest of her life. Upon Glennys’ death, the Trustee shall transfer the title of the property to Jean."  In this scenario, Glennys never receives the property outright; she only receives a right to use it. The Trustee is legally required to follow the parents' instructions and transfer the property to Jean.
• Creating a Life Estate with a Remainder Interest: The deed or will specifically divides the ownership into two parts.  For example, "I grant a Life Estate in my home to Glennys, with the Remainder Interest to Jean."  Here Glennys (the Life Tenant) has the right to live in the property until her death. Jean (the Remainder Holder) immediately owns a vested future interest. Glennys cannot sell the property free of Jean's interest, nor can she name the church as the ultimate beneficiary. When Glennys dies, the property automatically belongs to Jean.

Don't rely on wishes, intentions, or moral obligations to control what happens to your property after your primary beneficiary inherits it.  If you want to ensure your property follows a very specific generational path or ends up with a specific person or charity after your primary beneficiary has died, you should use a legally binding structure like a Trust or a Life Estate. Otherwise, you're leaving your final wishes up to chance and the moral discretion of the person you love—who, like the character in Fisk, might just decide they have a different plan.

Reminder - a blog is not legal advice!  It is meant to spark thought and reflection.  Estate planning and probate laws vary from state to state.  It is critically important that you seek legal counsel from an attorney licensed in your home state for advice specific to your unique situation. If you found this post helpful, consider sharing it on your preferred social media platform.  Be well, and thanks for reading!