Estate Planning failures are not only for the wealthy. Nor do you need to be famous like our friends below to fall into the trap of poor planning and faulty thinking. Read about these famous estate planning failures and take heed!
NAME: Glen Campbell
DIED: August 8, 2017;
AGE: 81
CAUSE: Alzheimer’s disease
ESTATE BLUNDER: Leaving 3 of 8 children out of a will written up while he was suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Campbell, the country singing icon who crossed into mainstream music with songs like “Gentle on My Mind,” “Wichita Lineman,” and “Rhinestone Cowboy,” died last year from the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
A Nashville judge ruled in late July that Campbell’s three children have the standing to contest the validity of the will, due to questions about the late singer’s capacity. Court records stated that he was “specifically excluding” his daughter Kelli and sons William and Wesley from receiving anything from his will or a related trust. In November 2018 those three children finally ended their effort to contest the will after official estimates given to the probate court listed the estate at a value of $420,221, a far cry from the $50 million valuation the estate originally received.
(Source: The Tennessean)
NAME: Verne Troyer
DIED: April 21, 2018;
AGE: 49
CAUSE: Suicide by alcohol poisoning
ESTATE BLUNDER: Leaving his parents and estate with a large debt.
Troyer, best known for his role as Mini-Me in the “Austin Powers” movies, died after three weeks in a hospital back in April 2018. His cause of death was later ruled a suicide by alcohol poisoning.
TMZ reports that Troyer’s estate has since been billed $364,797.05 for his 3-week hospital stay. That’s in addition to the initial $1,457 fee for the ambulance that took him there.
Verne Troyer was worth $160,000 when he passed away. Court documents state that Troyer had $150k in personal property and another $10k annual gross income from personal property. At the time of his death, Troyer already owed the state of California $22,224.70 in back taxes stemming from the years 2004 and 2005.
Troyer’s parents, Reuben and Marie, are the heirs to his estate.
(Sources: TMZ and AOL.com)
NAME: Maya Angelou
DIED: May 28, 2014;
AGE: 86
CAUSE: Heart failure
ESTATE BLUNDER: Entrusting her legacy to 2 family members in an uneven split.
Author, poet, actor and civil rights activist Maya Angelou died in 2014. In her will she specified that her assets and intellectual property should be put into a foundation called the Caged Bird Legacy, of which 75% control was given to her son Guy Bailey Johnson and the remainder to her grandson Colin Ashanti Murphy-Johnson.
Maya Angelou’s grandson is now “trying to bankrupt her legacy,” according to his own father, who filed a lawsuit in California courts in late 2017. Guy Bailey Johnson has accused his son, Colin Ashanti Murphy-Johnson, of trying to cut him out of the proceeds from Caged Bird Legacy. His father claims that Angelou’s grandson is raiding the coffers to fund an “extravagant” lifestyle and has allegedly borrowed hundreds of thousands from the company. Murphy-Johnson has not responded publicly to the suit.
(Source: The Daily Beast)