Britney Spears still has the opportunity to get her estate plan together (if she hasn’t already), but many celebrities have failed to put together a proper plan and cost their friends and family both money and grief. You can put it off for countless tomorrows but here are a few lessons that can be learned from celebrities whose families had to find out the hard way how important it is to do a little estate planning.
Lesson 1: Write a Will and Estate Plan
Jimi Hendrix died without writing a will and under state law everything went directly to his father. His father managed to maintain the rights to the music and turn Jimi’s catalog into a small fortune estimated around $80 million before writing his own will and cutting out all of Jimi’s other family members in favor of an adopted daughter from a subsequent marriage. Jimi may have spent his last several years living in a purple haze but even that is no reason to skip writing an estate plan.
Lesson 2: Get a Professional to Help Write Your Plan
Warren Burger, former Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote his own will and the brevity of the 176 words he penned cost his family nearly half a million dollars in estate taxes and lots of legal fees to obtain the rights to sell his real estate holdings on an estate valued at just $1.8 million. The cost of an estates professional is well worth it no matter the size of your estate. Plus, you can take a tax deduction for any fees paid to a professional for tax planning advice so its a win-win.
Lesson 3: Update Your Plan for Life Changing Events
Heath Ledger died with a will. Trouble is, the will was written well before he was in a long-term relationship with Michelle Williams and the birth of their daughter. Everything went to his father and sister at his death and many close to the family questioned whether they would provide for Michelle and their daughter as Heath would have had he updated his estate plan after his child’s birth.
Lesson 4: Put Your Wishes in Writing
Marlon Brando’s long term gal pal Angela Borlaza claimed that he promised her that she could keep the home he bought for her to live in as well as a long-term job with one of his companies after he passed. Problem was, he only made an oral commitment to her and she had to pay his estate an agreed upon settlement to keep her home and it is unclear what she may have received in exchange for not being kept on one of his company’s payrolls.
Lesson 5: Create Proper Codicils for Changes
Ted Williams may be paying an eternal price for conflicts in his burial wishes. His will stated he wished to have his body cremated while two kids from his second marriage produced a greasy, handwritten note that said something about putting his body in biostasis. His eldest daughter sought to have the wishes expressed in his will carried out but couldn’t afford the ongoing legal costs of the will contest and Ted remains cryogenically frozen.
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