Celebrity Estate Lessons Joan Rivers

I think it’s time for a look at a celebrity who had their stuff together. Joan Rivers wrote and signed a Will in 2011 leaving everything to the Rosenberg Family Trust. (Rosenberg is Rivers’ legal last name).  This was the 11th amendment and the 3rd complete rewrite of the Trust, so Joan gets another gold […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Wellington Burt

Ever wonder what someone does when they want to keep their estate in the family, but hate all their current relatives? Well, lumber baron and East Saginaw, Michigan mayor Wellington Burt came up with one solution.  When Burt died in 1919, his Will included a “spite clause” stipulating that his estate was not to be […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons George Michael

When George Michael died in 2016, he might have had faith that his estate plan was in good shape. His Will left his £97 million estate to his two sisters, father, and seven close friends. However, his Will didn’t include his long-term ex-boyfriend Kenny Goss or his boyfriend-at-the-time Fadi Fawaz. Talk about your loverboy blues.  […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Ridiculously Wealthy Pets

Celebrity Estate Lessons Ridiculously Wealthy Pets It’s time for another round of ridiculously wealthy pets!  Let’s start with one of the world’s best known chimps: Bubbles. Bubbles became famous when he was adopted in the 1980s by Michael Jackson. Michael took him everywhere for a while, including to teatime with the Mayor of Osaka. However, […]

Celebrity Estate Lesson Gene Wilder

Celebrity Estate Lessons Gene Wilder There was an earthly way of knowing which direction Gene Wilder’s estate plan was supposed to be going, because he took the time to have his documents properly drawn up prior to his death in 2016.  When it was announced that Wilder had died from complications relating to a three-year-long […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons – James Gandolfini 

You have a will written and you think everything’s going to be fine for your beneficiaries, but will it? Depending on your assets, they might not be inheriting as much as you think because of taxes.  When James Gandolfini died in 2013, 80% of his assets were left to his sisters and infant daughter. Because […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Lou Reed

Celebrity Estate Lessons Lou Reed Some people make a lot of money during their career. Then there are people who make even more once they’ve passed. Such was the case for the Lou Reed Estate, the value of which nearly tripled in the year after he died. Lou Reed did do some estate planning, leaving […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Anthony Bourdain

Celebrity Estate Lessons Anthony Bourdain Whenever someone dies unexpectedly, we wonder about their estate and if they had things in place. Or maybe just I do since I write these every week. This is especially true when the person who passed lived an unconventional life, like Anthony Bourdain.  When Bourdain passed in 2018, his net worth […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons B.B. King

There’s no dispute that B.B. King was a master musician. And he actually didn’t do too bad a job with his estate plan, either.  King had a Trust created for his children in 2007, which was supposed to take generous care of his surviving 11 children (each from a different mother) when he passed. However, […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Bob Marley

Bob Marley died in 1981 and it took over 30 years for his estate to be settled.  Marley didn’t write a Will, claiming it was against his religion. So, when he died, his estate had to follow the intestate (fancy lawyer word for didn’t have a Will) laws of his homeland of Jamaica. These laws […]