dead hand
n.— «Helmsley’s instructions illustrate many of the ethical difficulties with wills. We live in a free society and generally agree that a person can do anything they want with their money while alive, assuming it’s legal. But there are various restrictions on what people can do with their money after they die. The law tries to prevent what is called a “dead hand,” someone exercising control from the grave.» —“Ethics@Work: The dead hand versus the living paw” by Asher Meir Jerusalem Post (Israel) July 10, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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Janet in Montgomery, Alabama, reports that a day after she had surgery on her hand, the wound burst open, and a doctor noted that her wound dehisced. She’s used to hearing dehisce used in botany to mean the splitting of a plant structure to...