It is believed that either Benjamin Franklin or Mark Twain said “Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.”
Not having appropriate estate planning documents to address both of these certainties is a mistake. The fact is that we don’t know when we’re going to die. Nor do we know when we might become incapacitated due to an accident or sudden illness.
If you die unexpectedly and your estate-planning documents are out-of-date, confusing, or nonexistent, settling your estate is likely to be much more complicated and expensive.
For instance, you might have heard that soon after Lisa Marie Presley’s death last month, her mother, Priscilla Presley, contested an amendment allegedly made to Lisa Marie’s trust.
Lisa Marie, Elvis Presley’s only child, died in January at age 54. When Elvis died, his Will left his estate to his father, his grandmother, and Lisa Marie. When Lisa Marie became eligible for her share at the age of 25, she created a revocable living trust to hold that inheritance.
Originally, Priscilla and the National Bank of Commerce were co-trustees of that trust, but in 2010, Lisa Marie amended the trust, stating that her then business manager (Barry Siegal) and her mother were to act as co-trustees. This amendment is not in dispute.
Lisa allegedly amended her trust again in 2016, making herself trustee and changing her successor trustees to her two adult children, Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough. Because Benjamin died in 2020, Riley was left as the sole trustee. This is the amendment that Priscilla disputes.
She claims that the amendment was never delivered to her as required by the terms of the trust. In addition, among other discrepancies, Lisa Marie’s signature doesn’t match her usual signature, and Priscilla’s name is misspelled. Further, this amendment was neither witnessed nor notarized, and no paper copy has been found (only a PDF).
Lisa Marie is far from the only celebrity to die with an uncertain estate plan, or even no plan at all.
Stephen “tWitch” Boss, a hip-hop dancer, choreographer, actor, television producer, and television personality, died last December at the age of 40 with no estate plan, although he had a wife and three children. Similarly, neither actress Anne Heche, who died last summer at age 53, nor Prince, who died in 2016 at the age of 57, had written estate plans.
Talk-show host Larry King left only a brief and confusing handwritten will when he died in 2021. When singer/songwriter Aretha Franklin died in 2018, her family thought she had died without a will, but nearly a year later, three different handwritten documents were found in her home that discussed her estate plan.
To avoid subjecting your own family to the headaches and expense involved in probating your estate, make sure you have an up-to-date estate plan that complies with all applicable laws, and that the plan is clear, with no room for confusion.
If you amend or replace your estate-planning documents, work with a skilled attorney to ensure that the amendments comply with any terms of the documents you are amending, as well as the law, to a “T.”
And if you aren’t amending any documents, you might want to make that clear in writing (preferably witnessed or notarized) on a regular basis so your family is less likely to have to deal with forged estate-planning documents, as Priscilla Presley is allegedly doing now.
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By planning now, you can ensure that your assets go to those you want to have them. In fact, by creating a distribution plan, you can give some things to people while you’re still alive and able to see them enjoy those benefits, while arranging to have the remainder of your estate transferred on your death.
You can also identify the people you’d like to handle your estate and to care for your children. You can arrange to have children receive your assets only after they reach a certain age and protect disability benefits for beneficiaries with special needs.
Finally, if your net worth is high enough that estate taxes are a concern, you can plan ahead to reduce or eliminate the tax burden (unlike actor James Gandolfini whose estate ended up owing $30 million in estate taxes).
Several weeks ago, we sent an Alert about tax planning; please let us know if you would like us to provide you with a copy.
Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about or need assistance with your estate planning. Remember, it’s important not to put off your estate planning. We have established safety procedures in light of the COVID-19 pandemic so that you can safely complete this important task.
You may also be interested in obtaining a copy of Estate Planning (in Plain English), written by members of this law firm and available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop (an online bookstore that allows you to support your favorite independently owned bookshop), and wherever self-improvement books are sold.
Photo by Kevin Andre on Unsplash
