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CASE #ZKX8BM · 2 entities · 1 connections
The Great Stork Derby
A wealthy Toronto lawyer left his entire fortune in his will to whichever local woman had the most babies in the next 10 years — and multiple families genuinely competed for the money, resulting in a real, legally contested nine-figure inheritance battle.
The Great Stork Derby was a real, bizarre inheritance contest triggered by the 1926 will of Toronto lawyer Charles Vance Millar, who left the bulk of his fortune to whichever Toronto woman gave birth to the most children in the following ten years. Several families genuinely competed for the prize, and the resulting legal and social controversy played out publicly in Canadian courts and media through the mid-1930s.
✓documented
Quick facts
- →Charles Vance Millar, a wealthy and famously eccentric Toronto lawyer, died in 1926, leaving a will containing several unusual bequests designed to test human behavior, the most famous being a large cash prize to whichever Toronto woman had the most children in the following decade.
- →The contest, dubbed the "Great Stork Derby" by contemporary media, drew genuine, serious participation from several Toronto families, some of whom had large numbers of children specifically motivated by the prize.
- →The will's validity and specific terms were legally contested through Canadian courts over the following years, given genuine ambiguity about which births would formally qualify under Millar's exact language.
- →In 1936, the prize was ultimately split among four women who had each had nine children during the qualifying period, a resolution that became a well-known piece of Canadian legal and social history.
Entities on file
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Charles Vance Millar (person)
Eccentric Toronto lawyer whose 1926 will triggered the Great Stork Derby, a real decade-long contest to have the most children.
→ triggered through his will → Great Stork Derby✓documented
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Great Stork Derby (event)
Real 1926-1936 Toronto inheritance contest in which families competed to have the most children for a cash prize, resolved by Canadian courts.
No outgoing connections on file.