Sherman Hemsley died over two full months ago, but his body remains frozen in an El Paso funeral home as relatives and crackpots continue to fight over his remains and estate. According to Fox’s El Paso affiliate, Hemsley’s will left everything to a woman named Flora Isela Enchinton, who the story describes as “the woman he lived with” and “his business partner and friend of 20 years.” The problem is that a dude from Philadelphia named Richard Thornton who claims to be Hemsley’s brother is contesting the will, so a judge has ordered a DNA test to determine if the two are actually related. Also, there’s another estranged family member who is apparently upset because he says neither of them should get the body because Hemsley already has a burial plot in Philadelphia next to his mother.
I mention all this to bring up three points:
1) If at all possible, you should really try to avoid dying. It just seems like a big mess to me.
2) Do not contest wills. Only assholes contest wills. Unless you have a really good reason to believe there was fraud involved, or the person was actually incapacitated somehow while making it, just do not do it. It may suck that you got cut out, or that they had a change of heart, or that the person’s wishes do not jibe with your own particular wishes for them, but, hey, tough sh-t. You don’t get everything you want sometimes, and people have a right to do what they want with their stuff. You dragging a crapload of lawyers into it to haggle over everything wastes an incredible amount of time and money, and it’s just a real dick move in general. I repeat: do not contest wills.
3) I really, really hope my body does not end up frozen in El Paso for two months after I die.
