Rich & Famous

Aaron Carter: A Life Gone Too Soon

Musician Aaron Carter, a former child pop star and younger brother of Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter, died in November at the age of thirty-four.

Aaron’s untimely passing is one of the more tragic celebrity deaths of 2022. It is also one of the messiest from an estate planning perspective. The late singer, who struggled with substance abuse and family discord, died unmarried and without a will, raising questions about the value of his estate, what will become of his remaining fortune, and who will provide care for his young child.

Aaron’s one-year-old son stands to legally inherit everything, and other family members have reportedly said they do not plan to dispute his inheritance. But there is still the issue of who will manage his son’s money until he comes of age. Because Aaron did not have an estate plan, this matter will be decided by the courts.

From Child Stardom to Bankruptcy

Aaron Carter did not achieve the stardom of his older brother Nick, but he was a highly successful performer in his own right. He opened for the Backstreet Boys at age nine and shortly thereafter landed a record deal. Between his music and an acting career that featured television and Broadway appearances, Aaron made over $200 million before turning eighteen, he said in 2016.^[1]

But growing up as a celebrity was not without difficulties. Despite a decade of nearly nonstop touring and music making, Aaron learned on his eighteenth birthday in 2005 that he had only $2 million in his bank account and owed around $4 million in taxes.^[2] In 2013, hoping for a fresh start, he filed for bankruptcy. His […]

On the Net2023-02-25T07:51:53-08:00February 7th, 2023|Common Problems, Rich & Famous|

Goodness Gracious! What Jerry Lee Lewis’ Estate Plan Could Look Like

Famous musician Jerry Lee Lewis passed away in October 2022, leaving behind a long legacy, a large family, and a multimillion-dollar estate.

Celebrities can give us a glimpse into lifestyles beyond our wildest dreams. But celebrities face many of the same estate planning issues that the rest of us do, such as which tax planning strategies to use and how to divvy up assets among loved ones when they die.

Jerry Lee Lewis’s death has prompted thoughtful retrospectives about his life in the spotlight. But on a more practical level, his death raises questions about what will become of his estate. This exercise in estate planning “what ifs” can provide lessons for anyone—celebrity or not.

What Lewis Leaves Behind

Lewis died in his home near Memphis on October 28, 2022, at the age of eighty-seven. He outlived other rock and roll icons of his era such as Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash despite a hard-charging lifestyle that included substance abuse and serious health problems. Vulture, part of New York Magazine, describes him as “the last man standing from the dawn of rock and roll.”^[1]

Arguably best known for his rock song “Great Balls of Fire,” Lewis also had country hits and was a four-time Grammy winner. He is a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame who recorded over forty albums during a career that spanned seven decades.

Lewis is survived by Judith Coghlan Lewis, his seventh wife. He also had six children. Four of his children are alive—Jerry Lee Lewis III, Ronnie Lewis, Phoebe Lewis, and Lori Lancaster. In the years before his death, […]

On the Net2023-02-25T13:02:37-08:00January 29th, 2023|Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Rich & Famous|

End of the Six Year Battle Over Prince’s Estate

The Daily Mail published an article that says:

“The legal battle over Prince’s estate came to an end on Sunday five years after his untimely death at 57 in 2016. The star’s wealth, which totaled $156.4 million, was fought over by a number of that star’s potential heirs because the Purple Rain singer did not leave a will. The Internal Revenue Service and Comerica Bank & Trust, the estate’s administrator, finally came to an agreement on the valuation after giving wildly different estimations at the beginning.”

On the Net2022-11-16T10:12:21-08:00November 16th, 2022|Estate Fights, Lawsuits, Rich & Famous|

The Death of Anne Heche: Lessons for Estate Planning

Anne Heche’s recent accidental death was a shocking reminder of how the everyday can quickly turn into the tragic. While driving through the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles on August 5, 2022, Heche was involved in a car crash and succumbed to her injuries a week later. The official cause of death was burns and smoke inhalation.

As the media reflects on her legacy as an actress and celebrity, and as some corners of the internet are awash with conspiracy theories around the circumstances of her death, Heche’s situation also provides some tough lessons about the need for estate planning.

Not having a will can place surviving family members in a difficult position and undermine the privacy that public figures try so hard to maintain. An email was presented to the court purporting to appoint her ex, James Tupper, as the administrator of her estate and dividing everything equally among her two children to be given to them at the age of twenty-five.^[1] It has been speculated that this document will not meet the standards of a valid will in California, however, because it was not in Heche’s handwriting, she did not sign it, and there were no witnesses. Rather than Heche’s estate being distributed according to her final wishes, it is now subject to state law and a very long and public probate court proceeding.

Heche’s Legacy

When Heche passed away on August 11 at age fifty-three, it spurred many questions. Was she really involved in three separate car accidents in a span of thirty minutes? Why did her crash into a two-story home cause such a massive fire? How was it possible that it […]

On the Net2023-02-25T12:44:12-08:00November 1st, 2022|Common Problems, Estate Planning, Rich & Famous|

Disabled daughter of ‘Dandy Don’ Meredith at center of allegations of abuse, neglect since his death

FOX: “The daughter of the late legendary football star and sportscaster “Dandy Don” Meredith dealt with abuse and neglect after her stepmother took guardianship of her trust following Meredith’s death, relatives said. Meredith, a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, “Monday Night Football” commentator and TV pitchman who often referred to himself as “Jeff and Hazel’s baby boy,” set up a trust to ensure lifetime care for his youngest child, Heather, now 49, who was born with physical and intellectual disabilities.”

On the Net2018-11-06T10:02:36-08:00November 6th, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Special Needs Trusts, Trusts|

Oligarch a Step Closer to Losing $585 Million Divorce Battle

Bloomberg: “A Russian billionaire fighting one of the largest divorce payouts in U.K. history lost a Moscow court case where he was trying to prove that his marriage had been dissolved 16 years earlier. Farkhad Akhmedov was ordered to pay his wife Tatiana Akhmedova more than 450 million pounds ($586 million) following a London trial that he refused to participate in on the grounds that he was already divorced in Russia. Now the Moscow City Court has rejected an appeal by the businessman seeking to prove the existence of that divorce.”

On the Net2018-10-29T12:39:19-07:00October 29th, 2018|Prenuptial Agreements, Rich & Famous|

Frank Lloyd Wright estate owner defends weddings, seeks tax break from Orinda

East Bay Times: “The homeowner of a Frank Lloyd Wright estate defended holding weddings on the property, saying there have been “no citations for illegal parking, no DUIs, no fights, no loud quarrels, no excessive noise citations” and calling neighbors’ complaints “baseless.” “In fact, (there have been) no citations whatsoever for anything from the police,” Gerald Shmavonian said in an interview. He added there have been no traffic accidents and no injuries on the site. “Ninety percent of the people take Uber.” “It’s true that there has been no criminal activity,” said Orinda Planning Director Drummond Buckley. But the Orinda official said Shmavonian was still in violation of the city’s zoning ordinance. Orinda bans commercial ventures in residential neighborhoods.”

On the Net2018-09-24T14:11:17-07:00September 25th, 2018|Estate Fights, Estate Planning, Rich & Famous|