Idaho Law Blog
By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney
We all love to watch the glitz and glitter in the lives of celebrities and envision our lives being similar to theirs. For some reason, many of us believe that celebrities have the perfect life. While I don’t know whether celebrities have a perfect life, I can tell you with some assurance that many of them make serious mistakes when it comes to their own estate planning. As an estate planning attorney my goal is to help my clients avoid making similar mistakes. Here are three serious estate planning mistakes celebrities have made in their lives that you can learn from.
1. Consider Your Debts
First, you need to consider your debts and your creditors. It really doesn’t do you any good if you’re in so much debt that you have too few assets to cover it. When this occurs, even if you have a last will and testament, or any other documents that give away your property to some other individual, your creditors will need to be paid first. Take for example Sammy Davis Jr. His last will and testament was generous in giving gifts to others including family, friends and other loved ones. The problem is, he hadn’t handled his debts well and he died with a large tax bill owing to the IRS. In the end, his estate was not large enough to even cover the taxes. As a result, the generous gifts that he had listed in his last will and testament were not fulfilled.
The lesson that we learn from this example is that we need to consider our debts and expenses and the creditors we have. It should be our goal to manage and maintain our debt so that when we pass away it doesn’t overcome our estate and the gifts we would like to leave to those in our family and to loved ones.
2. Have a Written Estate Plan That Considers All Circumstances
The second important lesson we can learn from celebrity estate planning mistakes is that we need to consider all the circumstances that might occur in our lives. As an estate planning attorney it is my job to look down the road of the future and figure out what all the worst things that can happen are and how we can avoid them. By doing this we can eliminate many potential problems before they even begin.
Take Marilyn Monroe for example. She left the majority of her sizable estate to her acting coach, Lee Strasberg. However, rather than putting these assets into a trust so that they could be then given to other individuals that she knew and loved she simply used her last will and testament to give everything to Strasburg. He then became the legal owner of these items and when he died his estate, which included everything he received from Monroe, went to his third wife. Monroe never knew Strasburg’s third wife. So in the end a sizable portion of Monroe’s estate went to an individual she didn’t even know. Had a trust been used instead of a last will and testament, Monroe could have kept better control over who ultimately would have received the property in her estate.
3. Keep Your Estate Planning Updated
A third estate planning lesson we can learn from celebrities is about keeping our estate-planning updated, especially after a major life event occurs. As an example, Anna Nicole Smith had a son who died shortly before she did. She also gave birth to a baby girl shortly before she died. Neither of these events were updated in her estate planning. As a result, expensive litigation and complications from disputes between family members on who should receive her estate occurred. Resolving these disputes cost the estate hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As estate planning attorneys we counsel our clients to regularly review and update their estate planning especially when a major life event occurs. A major life event would include a birth, a death, a divorce, a marriage, or just the passage of a long period of time. When any of these things occur in your life, you should immediately review your estate plan and make sure that it still accomplishes what you want. If it doesn’t, of if your circumstances have changes, you will see recognize the changes that you need to make.
ENLIST AN ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEY TO HELP YOU
When it comes to estate planning or probate you should never try to do it alone. If you have questions for yourself or for your family and loved ones, we can help. Call us toll free at 877-232-6101 or 208-232-6101 for a consultation with Lane Erickson and the Racine Olson team of Estate Planning attorneys in Idaho. You can also email Lane Erickson directly at lve@racinelaw.net. We will answer your questions and will help you solve your Idaho Estate Planning problems.