Aretha Franklin Left No Will Or Trust, $80 Million Estate Will Be Managed By Probate Court
Aretha Franklin may have lost her battle with pancreatic cancer on Aug. 16, but the legacy she left behind as the Queen of Soul will live on through her music and through the contributions she made to the music industry forever. 不幸的是, what she didn’t leave behind was a will or trust to help with the management of her $80 million estate, which includes the rights to many of the songs she made famous.
“I was after her for a number of years to do a trust,” said Los Angeles attorney Don Wilson, who represented Franklin in entertainment matters for the past 28 years. “It would have expedited things and kept them out of probate, and kept things private.”
Franklin is 不 the only celebrity who neglected to put a will or trust in place prior to death. Barry White, Amy Winehouse, Steve McNair, Martin Luther King, Jr., 科特·柯本, 桑尼波诺, 吉米·亨德里克斯和, 最近, Prince are just a few of the other celebrities who have died without a having a will or trust to protect their assets.
没有遗嘱 or trust, there is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to what will come of one’s estate. In Franklin’s case, it appears as though her four sons are in line to inherit their mother’s assets. 然而, without the proper paperwork in place, they will have to go through the grueling probate court process and will likely have a large portion of their inheritance taxed away.
控制自己
Managing your assets after death becomes incredibly complicated for those without a will and, 通常, personal complications among family members will arise. 没有遗嘱, your possessions, property and money will be divvied out according to the law – 不 你的愿望. In other words, you will 不 be able to control who gets what after you die. While this may 不 sound like a big deal right now, imagine a scenario in which you couldn’t give a portion of your assets to someone special or to a special organization as an expression of your love and gratitude. Instead, the court is left to slice, dice and distribute your estate in accordance with the law.
Specifically, establishing a will or trust will empower you by:
Giving You Power Over Your Estate Distribution
With a legally-binding will or trust, you (不 the courts) will get to decide how your estate will be managed upon your death. A will or trust also minimizes fights over your estate, ultimately making the process easier for everybody involved.
Helping You Avoid A Lengthy Probate Process
Having a will in place dramatically speeds up the probate process by giving the court information on how your estate should be distributed. 没有遗嘱, the court will determine your estate distribution without your input which can bring about unnecessary postponements.
Failure to update your will can be just as worrisome. Imagine you put a will in place with your first marriage but neglected to update it when you married again. 在你死后, the court would have no choice but to follow the wishes outlined in your last known will. That means your ex-spouse could be inheriting your assets, leaving your current spouse empty-handed.
头等大事
人 cite various reasons for 不 putting their affairs in order sooner. From misperceptions with regard to cost to time constraints and everything in between, 但事实是, if you keep putting this task off, the results could be really, 非常糟糕的. Taking the time to sit down with an estate planning expert is the best way to take charge of the management of your assets before and after death. Tomorrow is never promised so make creating a will your top priority. 电子邮件的意图 & 比较靠谱的赌博软件 to learn more about the importance of estate planning and why having a well-crafted will in place is necessary.
By Inez Bowie, CPA, CSEP (玛丽埃塔办公室)