The Petrosewicz Law Firm Estate Planning Blog

What Happens When There’s No Will or the Will Is Invalid?

The Queen of Soul’s lack of a properly executed estate plan, isn’t the first time a celebrity died without a will, and it surely will not be the last says The Bulletin in the article “Aretha Franklin and other celebrities died without an estate plan. Will you?”

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Howard Hughes, and Prince all died without a valid will and estate plan. When actor Heath Ledger died, his will left everything to his parents and three sisters. The will had been written before his daughter was born and left nothing to his daughter or her mother. Ledger’s family later gave all the money from the estate to his daughter.

Getting started on a will is not that challenging, if you work with an experienced estate planning attorney. They often start clients out with a simple information gathering form, sometimes in an online process or on paper. They’ll ask a lot of questions, like if you have life insurance, a prenup, who you want to be your executor and who should be guardian of your children.

Don’t overlook your online presence. If you die without a plan for your digital assets, you have a problem known as “cyber intestacy.” Plan for who will be able to access and manage your social media, online properties, etc., as well as your tangible assets, like investment accounts and real property.

Automatic bill payments and electronic bank withdrawals continue after death, and heirs may struggle to access photographs and email. When including digital estate plans in your will, provide a name for the person who should have access to your online accounts.

Check with your estate planning attorney to see if they are familiar with digital assets. Do a complete inventory, including frequent flyer miles, PayPal and other accounts.

Remember that if you don’t make out a will, the state where you live will decide for you. Each state has different statutes determining who gets your assets. They may not be the people you wanted, so that’s another reason why you need to have a will.

Life insurance policies, IRAs, and other accounts that have beneficiaries are handled separately from the will. Beneficiaries receive assets directly and that bypasses anything written in a will. This is especially important for unmarried millennials, Gen Xers, divorced people, singles, widows and widowers, who may not have specified a beneficiary.

Don’t forget your pets. Your heirs may not want your furry family members, and they could end up in a shelter and euthanized, if there’s no plan for them. You can sign a “pet protection” agreement or set up a pre-funded pet trust. Some states allow them; others do not. Your estate planning attorney will be able to help protect your beloved pets as well as your family.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: The Bulletin (Sep. 14, 2019) “Aretha Franklin and other celebrities died without an estate plan. Will you?”

Celebrities Make Estate Planning Mistakes–In a Big Way

Outdated documents, beneficiary designations and other estate planning mistakes can keep your heirs tied up in court for years, with your estate consumed by taxes, penalties and legal fees. This is not to mention the frustrating scenario of people you didn’t want to receive your assets, ever, getting the lion’s share of your estate.

That, says Kiplinger in an article titled “6 Estate-Planning Mistakes Celebrities Made,” could happen to your family, if you don’t update your estate plan on a timely basis. Making sure that your assets and prized possessions end up with the right people requires more than just having a will created. Many accounts have designated beneficiaries, like IRAs and 401(k) accounts, and insurance policies. If the person designated to be a beneficiary is an ex-spouse or a family member from whom you’re estranged, then it won’t matter: the named beneficiaries supersede anything contained in your will.

Just as everything about celebrity lives is oversized, so are their estate planning mistakes.

With no will, Prince died intestate. A judge in Minnesota made the decisions about his assets and there were significant delays due to people who claimed to be his heirs. It has been two years since his death and heirs have yet to receive their inheritances.

Singer Barry White died in 2003, while he was separated but not divorced from his second wife. She inherited everything. His live-in girlfriend of several years and his nine children received nothing. The legal battle got ugly with his girlfriend, daughter and son all filing lawsuits. Until you are legally divorced, you are still married, as far as your estate is concerned. Update your will, your financial and healthcare power of attorney and check your beneficiary designations. Don’t wait.

When actor Heath Ledger died, his will left everything to his parents and three sisters. His daughter and her mother were left with nothing. His family later gave all the money from the estate to his daughter. Use life-changing events, like the birth of a child, as reasons to review and update your estate planning documents.

Olympic sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner died at age 38. It was believed that she had a will.  However, no one could find it. The legal battles between her husband and her mother went on for years. Most estate planning attorneys will keep a copy of your will and other estate planning documents on file. You should also keep the original documents in a safe, readily-accessible place and tell at least two people where they are located.

When acting legend Marlon Brando died, he left most of his approximately $26 million estate to his producer and other associates. A long-time housekeeper said that Brando had promised to give her his home when he died, but he never put it in writing. She sued the estate for the value of the home plus $2 million in damages. The case settled three years later for $125,000. If you are making promises to people that you wish to take care of, put those in writing.

Pop icon Michael Jackson’s death set off a long series of legal battles over his estimated $500 million estate. He had created a revocable living trust designed to pass his wealth to his children and his mother when he passed.  However, he never funded the trust. His entire estate had been left outside of the trust. That meant that it had to go through the probate process, while his children and mother lived on an $8 million annual allowance managed by the estate’s executor and a judge. There were also many legal challenges from creditors and family members.

Estates of celebrities and “regular” people can avoid all of these mistakes, by creating and updating their estate plans, with the help of a qualified estate planning attorney.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: Kiplinger (Aug. 31, 2018) “6 Estate-Planning Mistakes Celebrities Made”

Why You Need a Last Will and Testament

There are three documents at the core of estate planning that allow people of modest means and people of great wealth to protect and convey their health care and financial wishes during incapacity and death: the durable general power of attorney, the durable health care power of attorney and the last will and testament.

This is the subject of an article from The Daily News that asks “How Useful is a Last Will and Testament?” According to the article, a will is an individual’s post-mortem (death) plan to distribute one’s assets. They are almost always written down. There have been instances of verbal wills in other states, but verbal wills are not valid in Texas.  A will can be used to dispose of nearly anything which the person, known as the “testator” (if male) or “testatrix,” (if female), owns or has an ownership interest.

Any person who is legally competent can sign a will, provided they are aware of who they are, what assets they own and to whom they want to give those assets. Estate laws vary from state to state, so it would be wise to have your will prepared by an estate planning attorney in your state.

Wills are used to transfer tangible property as well as real estate, money and ownership interests in businesses, stocks and other entities. While most beneficiaries are humans, wills can be used to name charities, trusts, businesses and animals as beneficiaries. For animals, some people have “pet trusts” created to protect their pets, if they should outlive their companion animals.

One benefit of having a will, is the ability to decide for yourself who should inherit your possessions. If you die without a will, the state’s laws determine what happens to your possessions. That is known as dying “intestate.” Anything you own that does not have a beneficiary designation or surviving joint owner, will be passed automatically to your legal next of kin.

If you don’t have a will, aren’t married and have no children, your estate will be distributed to your next of kin.

If you have young children and die without a will, the court will appoint a guardian to rear your children. It may not be the person you would have chosen. If you have young children, you should have a will made without delay, to name a guardian and a person to be in charge of managing your money that is left for your children.

A will may be revoked, changed or amended at any time, if the person is legally competent.  However, because it is a legal document, it should be created with an estate planning attorney to make sure it complies with your state’s laws and is created to accurately and independently reflect your wishes.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: The (Memphis) Daily News (Aug. 30, 2018) “How Useful is a Last Will and Testament?”

After-Born Children

Estate planning attorneys always remind clients that if there are significant changes in their lives they need to revisit their estate plans and make any necessary changes.

Having more children definitely counts as a significant change in a person's life. Despite the advice of the attorneys, many people do not change their wills after they have more children.

That means courts have to decide what to do about the children and the will.

In Georgia the will gets revoked, as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog discusses in "State Law on After-born Children Leads to Revocation of a Will."

In a recent court case, a Georgia man created a will in 1989. He later had three children out-of-wedlock, but he never updated his will to include the children.

The Georgia court decided that the will was, therefore, invalid and revoked it.

The man's estate would thus be distributed according to the state's laws of intestacy, as if the will never existed at all.

Every state treats these after-born children (who are not mentioned in wills) differently.

Talk to an estate planning attorney about the laws in your state.

Better yet, ask the estate planning attorney to help you, if you have had more children since you created your will.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected]. 

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Oct. 17, 2017) "State Law on After-born Children Leads to Revocation of a Will."