PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_JulAug 2019 | Page 18

PROBATE CORNER
Can You Take Your Property With You When You Die?
DAVID M. GARTEN
TAKING IT TO THE GRAVE: In early cultures,
it was customary to include considerable
property with the corpses of wealthy
individuals to provide for the decedent
in the next life. Most later cultures have
abandoned this practice, in part because it
was economically inefficient and cultivated
the grave robbing industry. For example, in
Meksras Estate, 63 Pa. D & C 2d 371 (Pa. Com.
PI. 1974), Eva Meksras wrote a will directing
her executor to deposit her diamonds, other
jewelry, and other items of value in her
casket for burial. Invoking public policy
to invalidate the will provision, the court
speculated that permitting the burial would
be an invitation to grave robbers, who would
have access to the will given its status as
a public record. The court reasoned that
“permitting the deceased to be buried with
her jewelry would create a great potential for
public harm. A will once probated is public
domain. Notice to the world that a grave
site possesses treasure is almost certain
to tempt some people and incite others
to overt action in attempting to procure
the same. From the beginning of recorded
civilization, man has always honored his
dead. The inviolability of our cemeteries
is a matter of public concern. If a practice
is developed in our State to foster the
burying of valuables with a deceased, our
cemeteries like the tombs of the Pharoahs
will be ravaged and violated. The loved ones
of the deceased will experience the horror
of the desecration, looting and destruction
of burial grounds, heaping indignities on
the memory of the dead.”

Meksras is an aberration. In truth, as you
will see below, grave robbers have not
stopped people from burying their most
valued treasures with their remains.
sent back to Texas, where a huge grave was
dug beside her husband in San Antonio’s
Alamo Masonic Cemetery. The car was
placed inside a large wooden crate, lowered
into the ground by a crane, and then covered
in concrete.
whiskey, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a Zippo
lighter, and a dollar’s worth of dimes. The
dimes were reportedly in case he needed to
use a pay phone.
Tony Curtis shared his coffin with a long list
of items, including his Stetson hat, a pair of
driving gloves, his grandson’s baby shoes,
and the ashes of his dog.
Bob Marley, the reggae great, was buried
with his red Gibson Les Paul guitar, a Bible,
and some marijuana.
Sheila Stadler killed her healthy five-year-
old guide dog so it could be buried alongside
her. The guide dog was displayed in her
coffin at the funeral viewing.
Humphrey Bogart’s cremated remains
were joined in their urn by a small gold
whistle bearing the inscription “If you want
anything, just whistle,” which he had given
his widow, Lauren Bacall, years earlier.
The line was a reference to their 1944 film,
To Have and Have Not, loosely based on
an Ernest Hemingway novel, and the first
movie to pair the then 43-year-old Bogart
and his 19-year-old future wife.
John F. Kennedy was a collector of
scrimshaw, pieces of whale bone or ivory
that were engraved with pictures and
designs, most famously by New England
whalers. Highlights of his collection were
on prominent display in the Oval Office
during his presidency. A particular favorite
was a 9 1/2-inch-long whale tooth, engraved
with the presidential seal by the scrimshaw
artist Milton Delano. First Lady Jacqueline
Kennedy, who had commissioned the piece,
gave it to her husband for Christmas in
1962, the last Christmas he’d live to see. It
was buried with him in Arlington National
Cemetery. Other items buried with the
President include letters from his wife and
two children and a pair of gold cufflinks. His
brother Robert, who would be assassinated
less than five years later, is said to have
added a PT-109 tie clip and a silver rosary.
Sandra West, heiress to her deceased
husband Ike West’s Texas oil fortune, died
from an overdose of prescription drugs on
March 10, 1977 in her Beverly Hills home.
West, who was described by her physician
as “a psychotic with a tendency toward
paranoia and hallucination,” had requested
in her will that she be dressed in her lace
nightgown and buried in one of her three
Frank Sinatra, the “My Way” singer, was
Ferraris “with the seat slanted comfortably”.
buried his way with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s
West’s body and her beloved Ferrari were
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN
18
YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU, BUT CAN YOU
KEEP IT? In Ternant v. Boudreau, 6 Rob. 488
(La.1844),1844 WL 1761 (La. 1844) Madame
Ternant was interred with a gold chain, a
gold buckle, a pair of diamond earrings, two
diamond rings, three golden rings, six small
diamonds, and a diamond necklace. The
jewelry was stolen from her tomb and later
recovered by the police. The decedent’s only
heir claimed ownership of the jewels. The
Plaintiff, who had previously purchased the
heir's hereditary rights, sued the heir and
claimed ownership of the jewels.
The Plaintiff, who had previously purchased
the heir's hereditary rights, sued the heir
and claimed ownership of the jewels.
The trial court found for the heir and the
appellate court reversed.
(Continued on next page)