Celebrity Estate Lessons Ernie Banks

Celebrity Estate Lessons Ernie Banks Ah, summer. A great time to catch a ball game. You probably think those players on the field have everything all figured out, but that’s not always the case. When Chicago Cubs’ player Ernie Banks died in 2015, his estranged wife didn’t think he had a Will. She was certainly […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Jim Morrison

Celebrity Estate Lessons Jim Morrison Estate planning is hard. There are a lot of things you have to plan for that you may never have given a thought! Take Jim Morrison. When the lead singer of the Doors died in 1971, he had a simple will leaving everything to his girlfriend, or to his siblings […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Prince

We have so many new followers that have missed out on some of our early posts that we’re going to start revisiting some of them. Let’s call it First Friday Flashbacks! First up: Prince.  Feel like you’re the only one without a will? You’re not alone! When Prince died in 2016 he left no instructions […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons – Thomas Kinkade

Celebrity Estate Lessons Thomas Kinkade If you paid any attention at all to art in the 90’s, you’ve heard of Thomas Kinkade. The “painter of light” passed away in 2012 at home with his girlfriend Amy Pinto-Walsh.  Shortly after his death, Pinto-Walsh produced two handwritten and nearly illegible Wills, leaving her millions of dollars and […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Anna Nicole Smith

Celebrity Estate Lessons Anna Nicole Smith And now the ending of our accidental oil baron trilogy. Anna Nicole Smith married 89 year old J. Howard Marshall at the age of 26, a story we detailed last week.  Let’s fast forward a bit to September 2006. Smith had moved to the Bahamas to give birth to […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons Larry King

Celebrity Estate Lessons Larry King It was a shock when Larry King passed from complications of COVID-19 early last year. Shortly after his death, his current wife, Shawn Southwick, filed suit contesting King’s 2019 handwritten Will.  Southwick alleges that King’s eldest child, Larry King Jr. (whom the talk show host didn’t meet until Jr. was […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons – Chadwick Boseman

When Chadwick Boseman died in 2020, the world was stunned. What was even more stunning was learning that the actor, who had been fighting cancer for years, had died without leaving a Will.  His wife had to petition the court to be named as the Executor of his estate, and while it seems to have […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons – Solon

Wills have existed from time immemorial, but have you ever wondered who was the first person to have the bright idea to write down what they want done with their stuff? Well put on your shendyt, brush up on your hieroglyphics, and join me on a trip to ancient Egypt.  The earliest Will was discovered […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons – Charles Vance Millar

News Flash: Millionaires can be eccentric. Such was Charles Vance Millar, who loved a practical joke, and didn’t let death stop him from enjoying them. Clauses included leaving a vacation home in Jamaica to three men who hated each other as long as they lived there together. But the most well known clause was the […]

Celebrity Estate Lessons – Martin Luther King, Jr.

You have a trust and now you need someone to run it after you’re gone. Think carefully and choose someone you can trust to fulfill your wishes. Even people that seem like a great choice can change over time. Take the trust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an example.  Dr. Martin Luther King’s […]