November 22, 2024Filed Under: Antonio's Blog

Tractor Will

Tractor Will

In 1948 a dying Saskatchewan farmer made Canadian legal history. It’s the most famous Canadian case involving a Will.

This farmer was working his field when he got off of his tractor to make an adjustment. While off the tractor the tractor rolled backwards and crushed and pinned one of his legs. This was an old tractor that had steel wheels and did not have rubber tires. When he didn’t return home for supper his wife went looking for him. She called for help. It started to rain and created a lot of mud. The neighbours had great difficultly in moving that old very heavy tractor that was stuck in the mud.

While the farmer was trapped under the tractor he realized that there was a good chance that he was going to die. He realized that he had not made a will. Using his pocket knife he scratched on the fender of the tractor the words “I leave all to my wife”. Finally the neighbours were able to extract the farmer from under the tractor and rushed him to the hospital. Unfortunately he had lost too much blood and passed the next day.

Tractor Will

Of course the big legal question was whether those words that were scratched into the fender by the dying farmer amounted to a legally binding Will.

Most people don’t realize that a hand written Will can be legally binding. It is not absolutely necessary that a Will be prepared by a lawyer. However, there are special rules associated with hand written Wills and it is risky for a person to try and write their own will. Firstly, the Will may not accomplish what the person wants to accomplish. The drafter of a Will should know a little about estate law. Secondly, if not signed correctly a hand written Will may not be valid.

For example, a lot of couples when making their Wills, will leave everything to each other and then to their children thinking that this is sufficient to insure that their children will inherit. The problem is that after the first spouse dies the surviving spouse can change their will. I have seen situations where the surviving spouse remarries and then passes away before the second spouse and the second spouse inherits everything. The children of the first marriage inherit nothing.

In the case of the Saskatchewan farmer, even though the Will didn’t technically comply with the law regarding the making of hand written Wills the Court recognized the scratching on the fender as the farmer’s last Will. That tractor fender became famous and today sits in a museum.

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