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Episode 28: Insights from Celebrity Wills and Estate Plans
15 Plays2 months ago
Celebrities - they're just like us, only better looking with a lot more money!
This week we dive into the world of celebrity Wills and estates (or lack thereof). Join us as we explore the estate plans of icons like Elvis, Lisa Marie Presley, Heath Ledger, Prince, Kobe Bryant, Chester Bennington, Kurt Cobain, and Matthew Perry. Hear who nailed their estate planning and who left behind a complicated mess. Believe it or not, even high-profile celebrities and icons can teach us a thing or two about preparing for the future.
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Transcript
Introduction to Wills and Estate Planning
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of One of Us Knows What They're Talking About. Another one is you. I'm Lori Burch, your host. Join us as we discuss and unpack wills, trust, estate planning, and probate law in a way that's actually informative, interesting, and well, hopefully entertaining. Because if you don't have a will, the state of Texas has one for you. Let's dive in.
Do Celebrities Often Neglect Estate Planning?
00:00:39
Speaker
Okay, so what's our topic today?
00:00:44
Speaker
Celebrity wills. Celebrity wills are lack thereof or celebrity estates. Yeah. Yeah. So do we find that most celebrities die without a plan or an updated plan? Is that what your research has shown?
00:01:02
Speaker
Yes. ah Oh, okay. Well, yeah without updated you earlier, whenever we were talking about it, you were like, well, actually, you're right. Yes. Thank you. I'm always right. I mean, the fact is, is that yes, even even celebrities
00:01:26
Speaker
put this planning off, don't do it, don't have it. It is kind of shocking because you know one of the many excuses, and I do mean excuses that people will make in not getting this done or putting it off is that they don't have a lot or they don't have this or they don't have that. And when you have the same statistics around celebrities or wealthy people also not having a plan, then here we are. So there's something else at work, which is beyond the scope of this particular episode, but is the common thread to everything we do here at Birch Law. And is that and that is trying to get people to motivated motivated to get this done and get it done now, because you never know when things can happen.
Elvis Presley's Estate Management
00:02:05
Speaker
So of course we have, so everybody's going to share um a a celebrity estate matter. And I was excited about this because um I get to share my favorite and I'm also rather proud that um Mr. Elvis Presley did have an updated will and did have a plan in place and that probably the state of Graceland and everything else would look a lot different He didn't make some good business decisions, which is one reason why the estate doesn't have more but um It's part of what his manager Colonel Tom Parker got him into and maybe they just didn't realize The royalties off of music that would be more lucrative. But anyway
00:02:52
Speaker
Be that as it may. um And what was cool is that there used to be a time, and I'm glad that I got to be an Elvis fan during this era because Elvis Presley Enterprises has completely bulldozed and bought out the chain of gift stores that used to be right next to Graceland that were not owned or managed by Elvis Presley Enterprises. So that's where you got the best stuff.
00:03:14
Speaker
ah you know, the knockoff stuff, you get TCB soap that gave you a rash, um but but okay velvet Elvis paintings, and to my great, great pleasure as an Elvis fan estate planning attorney. I have a copy of Elvis's will and it's in this very office. We used to keep it in the conference room and luckily nobody stole it. But anyway, yes. So the story there is he did have a will in place and he had one child, Lisa Murray Pressley,
00:03:53
Speaker
who was underage at the time that he passed away. So everything went into trust for her to be managed by his father, Vernon. And at age 25, that is when it would all be Lisa's. Does this sound familiar to anybody?
00:04:10
Speaker
kind of the stuff we do, right? So I'm actually covering the chain of events that led us to where we are because there are three deaths that I am going to cover, all of them with updated estate plans, which I think one of the takeaways here is no matter how well planned or updated is that it still can cause struggle, confusion, family fighting,
00:04:37
Speaker
um So anyway, so then Vernon his dad survived him but died a few years later and then through Vernon's Will and some plans. That's where Priscilla was brought in to help Co-manage the trust for Lisa now Priscilla was Elvis's ex-wife But they stayed close and in and good I guess they maintain their relationship for the sake of Lisa and still had a lot of love for each other. It is Priscilla who was the one that opened Graceland to Torx and part of that was trying to manage this estate for Lisa wanting it and for the fans for it to be.
00:05:21
Speaker
continued, but it was just a lot of expense because there was some mismanagement, ah great big man a great great mismanagement of his funds. and He also gave away a lot of money, some of it formerly to charity, but also to family, friends, and random strangers, and had no concept of how much all those things cost.
00:05:43
Speaker
And um so there wasn't as much in the estate as you could have imagined then. So Priscilla was faced with this situation of what do I do? This, you know, this is a major American icon, if not worldwide figure, um wanted to preserve it for her daughter. And so the idea about opening Graceland to tours was born. And ah it is to this day. So where this was, what did it open for tour? So he died in 1977. I believe it opened in like, I should have looked this up like 1980, 1982, like around that time.
00:06:22
Speaker
was about that was around the first time that it opened up ah for tours where people could actually visit the home.
Graceland's Legacy and Influence
00:06:29
Speaker
And it's funny to think about in hindsight, or for us who, i I may be older than all of you, but I still wasn't alive during this era, um that It seemed like a crazy idea and crazy risk. Like, are they going to be able to do anything? Are they going to have any success? And to this day, it is the second most visited home in the United States. Do you know what the first one is? White House. Sarah, where did you come from? Total shot in the dark. I don't know. Wow. So that was.
00:07:04
Speaker
Oh, Sam, that's what I was going to say. I was. I was going to say or like, I don't know if Dolly Parton's house is on. Well, she has her amusement park in Pigeon Forge, but her home isn't open so not yet. Not yet. ah Not a bad guess. But yes, it is the second most visited house. And I could look up the stats, but, you know, I mean,
00:07:27
Speaker
hundreds of thousands of people tour there every every year. They have huge festivals, Elvis Week in August, which I think one of the saddest parts of Elvis's story is that he died in August. And so that's when Elvis Week is around and miserable ah Memphis is a pretty miserable place to be in August.
00:07:50
Speaker
Like if he could have just held on until like March or something. and ah it is It is rough. i I've been to, I'd have to count it maybe 12 different Elvis weeks.
00:08:02
Speaker
Dang. And I've actually run into Priscilla and Lisa Marie um during Elvis week and some of his band members, ah original band members. So that's kind of cool. But anyway, yeah, so Priscilla was the one who had this idea and it was a huge success. And um for those who may be interested in a little bit more of this, you can tour all of Graceland except the upstairs.
00:08:27
Speaker
Oh, now there's a lot of conspiracy, Sam. So are you like all excited about the fact there are conspiracies as to why the upstairs was not is not open? But the fact of the matter is there were still people living there.
00:08:41
Speaker
And come to find out, I didn't realize it to this extent, but even when it um when Lisa Marie was still alive, that they would go, and Riley, her oldest daughter, they would go, and if they woke up too late and the tourists had started, they would stay up they would stay upstairs the whole time until the tourists were done.
00:09:04
Speaker
Which that took a long day. Yeah. Because I think she says in like the the book, right, that it like starts at eight and ends at like five. Yeah. So it's a long day. It's like a work day. Yeah. Yeah. And apparently from the book that Sam is listening to narrated by Julia Roberts, but I'm reading with my own eyes um that they would have like workers would come and bring them food. Like they'd go run and get like bring about McDonald's or something like that.
00:09:34
Speaker
to the upstairs. um But it's also where he died. And if you've ever been there, it's not easy to get up and down the stairs. so And the other thing, which is one of the more official ah explanations, is that Ellis was really big at having people. He was very proud of price Graceland, bought it for his parents. I mean, it was this was like,
00:09:58
Speaker
Someone who was born dirt poor was able to reach this level and be able to provide this for his family and his friends. The land itself is really big, but for a lot of people going there, there it's it's not much of a mansion by today's standards, but I did look this up. It's over 17,000 square feet.
00:10:20
Speaker
So I do have to, I do have to laugh at people who are like, it's not really that big as a mansion. I'm like, well, that's still pretty big. ah There's a lot of hidden rooms that you don't tour, and it's also three levels because there's a basement. So I think it's harder to to conceptually feel how big the house itself is. um But then there's a lot of land and acreage there as well. But anyway, the official explanation they give is that Elvis loved hosting people and having people come, but that the upstairs was always a private place for him.
00:10:57
Speaker
and his family so that's you can decide how much of a conspiracy there is to that he's still alive he's still up there whatever else i'm sure sam would be able to find even more various things that people claim as to why you can't go up there it's also where he is buried it's where not originally he wasn't.
00:11:17
Speaker
Um, his mom had died, uh, right before he went, uh, into the army. Well, he was in basic training when it happened, but, um, where he was originally buried, I think it was forest lawn, not entirely sure. Uh, there were someone who attempted to steal his body. So they moved his grave and his mom's grave to the meditation garden, which is out by the pool. And then it is also where.
00:11:44
Speaker
ah Vernon was buried and then his grandmother Minnie Mae also called Dodger ah These were all names by the way, we were considering for Poppy She's she's buried there um And then there's a place marker for his stillborn twin. Did you know Elvis was a twin? Yes, yes his twins name was Jesse Guerin and and he's Elvis
Family Dynamics in Managing Elvis's Legacy
00:12:11
Speaker
Aaron. We talked about the middle name and spelling previously on episode. And then um his grandson took his life in 2020. So Lisa Marie's son, her only son. And so he's there and then Lisa Marie sadly passed away last January and she is there as well. Yes, I was at the funeral. um Yes, we took a walk with the whole with everybody up and did a procession around to see it's actually the last time
00:12:41
Speaker
I was there. um But Fergie, the Duchess of York, Axel Rose, Alanis Morissette. Who's the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins? Billy Corrigan.
00:12:54
Speaker
but the corgan um Austin Butler was there, but he didn't speak. But the rest of them either sang or spoke. I know I'm probably missing some people, but it's it's funny because my sister and I decided, oh, we got to we got to be there. the fact that The fact that they invited all the fans to attend the funeral is like the most Elvis thing ever, if you really know like his story and what he was about. But I really thought when Graceland announced this that it was just something for the fans.
00:13:22
Speaker
And then we were there it was freezing cold. So He was he was born in january. It's cold in january So I they can't move elvis week to run that time and elvis week in august started organically with fans just gathering there So there's really only my point is there's only a few months that are comfortable to be in memphis And january and august are not them. But anyway, it was freezing cold. We were waiting in the morning And man, Graceland is just this well-organized oiled machine. And so we're waiting in line, and it finally opens. And as we get through the gates, they hand us these official programs. And they're beautiful. And I open them up, and I'm looking, and I see ah you know the Justice of York, which who knew that they were good friends? I did not. Alanis Morris said, Axel Rose, Billy Corgan. And I'm looking, and I'm like,
00:14:11
Speaker
And they have this setup and they have like where where fans are going and they have like where the family is. And then we see Priscilla. Priscilla was there, Jerry Schilling, who was one of Elvis's best friends. And I'm like, Julie, that's my sister. Julie, this is this is the funeral.
00:14:29
Speaker
This is the funeral. but This isn't just something they're doing for fans. Like this is the funeral and um and it was just, it was amazing. It was really, really cool. I mean, um, that they, it was very special that they, that they did that. And the whole family was there. Um, uh, Lisa ended up having twin daughters with her last husband. It was number four, uh, last husband.
00:14:55
Speaker
And, um, her, of course, Riley was there, who's the one that's kind of taken, taken all of this on. But anyway, so, um, that's my, my sidebar on
Legal Processes in Estate Management
00:15:05
Speaker
that. But anyway, when Lisa Marie died, uh, she too had everything set up and there was a little bit, if you saw any of this, of a perceived squabble between Priscilla and Riley, Lisa's oldest daughter. ah But their their story is that that was really more blown out of proportion by the media, that it was just getting things really cleared up for how who was going to um take on this enormous responsibility of keeping the estate going. and And during Lisa's life, they had actually sold off a part of Elvis Presley Enterprises, and that was somewhat controversial. But the idea was to keep Elvis alive and to keep his legacy alive and going, that
00:15:51
Speaker
to be just in the hands of the family was pretty monumental and to be able to take it to another level, which thus far they have, even though they demolished all those cheesy gift shops and have really nice high-class stuff now. But, but you know, at least I got to enjoy it for that time here, but they did. um And so, you know, when you see the music or you see movies being made or you even see Going back a few years lelo and stitch i mean this is carrying on the elvis name and legacy of music i mean he still is everywhere on elvis radio on serious xm bay several times a day have elvis sightings and what they do is they talk about in popular culture how they'll hear something see something refer to something
00:16:32
Speaker
I'd be willing to bet, especially with how young our firm is, that there's a lot of Elvis references that you all don't even get that actually relate back to Elvis. One of my favorites is our teenage daughter put up on her wall, a Phoebe bridgers Bridges
00:16:50
Speaker
poster And it's but in the style, and I don't even know she knows this, but it's after Elvis's first album where it says Elvis in pink and then Presley,
00:17:01
Speaker
in like lime green, not lime green, but green. And so it says it has her name. And it's like, I wonder if she knows that this is from Ellis's first album, but that's what that's after. um But anyway, so they had, ah but they maintain the private residence and a ah percentage of it. And so then Lisa dying unexpectedly like that. It's like, holy shit, who's going to take care?
00:17:27
Speaker
of Graceland and make sure that this thing that has become so big continues. And so there is some discrepancies, but we know in the legal field that some things just have to be filed to get sorted out. It doesn't mean there's an actual dispute. It's kind of like when we've filed determinations of airship, which we have to do when there's no will.
00:17:49
Speaker
An attorney ad litem has to be appointed by the court in order to Make a a determination. Okay, who are the heirs? Let me find out their spouse. There were kids all of that What's the first thing I think Cynthia? Maybe Sam are the only ones they're gonna be able to answer this but what's the first thing that the ad litem has to file when they're appointed a Rejection a rejection So that that right there sounds adversarial, right? and But it's just it's a it's ah they have to it's just part of the legal process. so um And it's really just saying that they're not going to they don't accept the application. They have to do their research, their job, and then they submit a report that says from their research. And most of the time, that's a very smooth move sailing process.
00:18:37
Speaker
But it is it's just that's how the legal channels work. But anyway, they worked through it. um I didn't know until the book, Sam, that Priscilla and Lisa had such a contentious relationship. Yeah, that was interesting. Yeah, but um they worked it out. And but it seems like there is a little bit Of some distance with Riley and Priscilla not from any of this I think they both like really respect and are trying to work together this Huge thing that they're taking care of but it seems like they're not there's not a lot of warm fuzzies there even though uh, there was some I think vanity affair of vanity fair event or something that uh, Riley earlier this year took Priscilla to to kind of show a unified ah front and then just recently after the book launched which was just
00:19:27
Speaker
last week, two weeks ago, um, they were interviewed together at Graceland. And so I, I watched a portion of that interview. So I, I think they're, I think they're good. I think they're as good as they're going to be because I don't think they're actually super close. No, I wonder like the whole portion in the book of where at least the way Lisa was phrasing it was that like Priscilla just really was like, okay, I'm responsible to responsible for you. I'm just going to kind of put you here and hope you do okay. Yeah, not really either. Yeah, and it was about like,
00:20:06
Speaker
And I think if you, because up until this, Lisa's been very quiet. um I know a lot more of Priscilla's perspective. And it seemed like when Lisa was was with Elvis, she got to run the whole show and that Priscilla was really struggling with being a disciplinarian and guiding her and doing that. So, I mean, you can look at it both ways, but since you've gotten to listen, it's really the first part of the book,
00:20:33
Speaker
um I had no, I mean, I know as much as is possible for for the time that I have allotted in my life about Elvis and I did. Does he just not sound like the greatest dad? Yeah, it's sweet.
Elvis's Enduring Legacy in Pop Culture
00:20:48
Speaker
No, I did. She never shared any of that stuff. but Yeah.
00:20:51
Speaker
that I feel like the first half of the book was like Lisa's love letter to him. Yeah, the second so far. I mean, my audio books minutes ran out on Spotify, so I finished it. The second half almost feels like a love letter to Lisa from Riley. Yeah. And so like she's speaking up a lot more.
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah, um and like puts her input in it. And then there's there's like the whole chapter about being which is just heartbreaking. Yeah, that is actually cool and everything. Yeah, the Michael Jackson part was very interesting. Yeah, yeah. I have not. ah So I haven't finished reading it. I stopped. I'm right at where they talk about Ben.
00:21:28
Speaker
Mm hmm. And yeah on that. But yeah, I didn't you know, you would have this perception that Elvis did not probably spend that much time with her. But it sounds like they spent a ton of time together. Yeah, should be like, yeah, I'm outside and I'm crashing into trees. But oh, no, Elvis wants to speak to me. So I like to like sprint him essentially. Yeah, that happens. Like, yeah, it sounded like it happened pretty frequently. Yeah, it was very cute. You could tell they were very, very close.
00:21:55
Speaker
Yeah, so I thought that was very sweet. But anyway, so here we are. um There are the twins, oh gosh, now I think they're 14, 16 years old. Like they're they're around, that they're young. And so Ben of course took his life. So it's really just Riley who now, who never knew Elvis, who now has this tremendous tremendous responsibility on her shoulders and her daughter. You know what her daughter's name is? Riley's daughter. Oh, I've heard her say it.
00:22:25
Speaker
Wait, Sarah, did you just answer? No, I was just going to guess, Sam. Oh. Oh, no. Oh, my name. No. It's Tupelo. Mm-hmm. Do you know why?
00:22:42
Speaker
Ha ha. It's, do you all know why? It's a name of a place, right? Because I think they mentioned it in the book. It is a name of a place in Mississippi. Tupelo, Mississippi. What's significant about it?
00:22:56
Speaker
That's where he was born. That's where he was born. That's where Elvis was born. Anyway, so cute. Good luck to Riley. She seems to have a very strong head on her shoulders, but the weight of something that hopefully Lisa prepared her for probably not as she probably never thought that she'd have that responsibility as soon as she did.
00:23:17
Speaker
um But it is a tremendous amount of responsibility. so um But I think overall the story here, which is unlike the other stories we're about to share, is that probably the world's biggest superstar,
00:23:32
Speaker
um I don't know if that's really been eclipsed at this point or if it ever will, that his estate was actually ah planned for, kept up to date, and managed fairly, fairly well. And you don't you know don't see that happen too much. But kudos to Elvis, s along with the king.
00:23:51
Speaker
All right, so who's ah who's got something else? No, don't worry. Not all the stories will be this long. In fact, they're going to be significantly shorter. significantly shorter But who who wants to go next? Who's got next?
Challenges with Outdated Wills: Heath Ledger and Prince
00:24:04
Speaker
So the first one I did some research into is Heath Ledger. So he passed away in 2008.
00:24:13
Speaker
And then I realized while you were at the end of your bit, Lori, that I'm like, man, we are just going to be talking about people who have passed away. So is this is kind of like. Isn't that what we always talk about? Well, this time is the first time it actually like.
00:24:30
Speaker
hit different. So I'm like, huh, and okay. Well, it's all it's all people that died before their time, you would think. Yeah, it was just one of those like, oh, man, this is gonna this one has some fees. So Heath Ledger passed away 2008. And at the time, he was not married, but he did have a child. And she was very young at the time. So one of the biggest things that we always tell our clients about is, well, is it updated?
00:24:59
Speaker
So he had done a will back in 2003. This is prior to his child being born, prior to his relationship. And in that will, he gave everything to his parents and his sisters. And so at the time, he didn't make any provisions for a kid because he didn't have one and then never went back, never updated it.
00:25:25
Speaker
With Heathudger, a couple of other things come into play that he, um in his will, he said he was domiciled in Australia. But he had been living in New York for a couple of years because that's where he lived, that's where he worked, things like that.
00:25:41
Speaker
I wasn't able to completely ascertain whether he was in the process of any kind of naturalization to becoming like an American resident or citizen thereafter. um But if you have somebody who is a foreign national, their documents say, well, no, I'm domiciled here. That's where my family is. That's where his parents were. And that's where the people he had named in his will lived.
00:26:09
Speaker
So we will never quite fully know a lot of the implications of how it could have played out because one thing his family did, his parents and his sisters, they were very conscious of, well, he would have wanted this to go to his daughter. He had done some other things like take out um I think it was a $10 million dollars life insurance policy and she was the sole beneficiary, but also she was a very young child at the time. So obviously that wasn't going to just go straight to her. um So his family, what they decided to do was actually disclaim the inheritance and gift it all to her.
00:26:53
Speaker
So there's also some questions about what kind of tax implications I would have had for the Ledger family if they had, you know, received this gift, which some people are reporting at the time would have been roughly about a $20 million dollars estate.
00:27:10
Speaker
So that was another piece that like, there's just so many pieces of this that will never know what could have been because it didn't play out that way. But this is also just one of the biggest things that we come across with. We have had some clients come in that They're much older, all of their kids are now adults, but they're still like mentioning like guardians for their 40 year old children. And then sometimes this happens, which is like, oh, y'all don't have anything. You have little ones.
00:27:41
Speaker
what's gonna happen. So this was one of those where it's like, luckily, everybody was very um willing to work together about it. His family said some very nice things about their,
00:27:57
Speaker
of Matilda's mom, Michelle, I believe is her name. She never filed any claims on behalf of Matilda for the estate to get anything. It was just, this is one of the more rare like Easier happier endings where it's just like no, this is what you would have wanted provide for his daughter And then they from there they'd set up everything to where she would it would be held for her So that was the One of the least dramatic ones but still very very just like all Interesting. This family's nice Yeah, I guess it can happen. Yeah, I guess that can even happen in Australia, huh Sam? Yeah
00:28:44
Speaker
ah Is that hard for you to swallow? No. No, is there is there not a rivalry between New Zealand and Australia? Yeah, apparently. I i mean, I'm going to wait for me accidentally call Sam Australian. She will go off on you and start fighting you. Yeah. All right. ah Sam, do you want to go next? Who do you have? Yeah, doing me for two seconds so I can cough. Yes.
00:29:13
Speaker
I laughed and it made me wanna cough. um Do we want Prince or Kurt Cobain first? Oh, Prince. Prince, okay. I vote Prince. Okay. Sarah, do we did we outvote you? Yeah.
00:29:26
Speaker
Well, no one can hear you anyway today. It's all right. So Prince died without a will. And as we know, he passed in 2016 and it him passing away. um At first, they thought his estate was worth about 82 million, but then it came to 80 no a hundred and a hundred and like 60 million, but then they finally kind of settled on 156 million and But this triggered like a six-year legal battle and it's still technically going on So I guess at this point an eight-year legal battle But so he passed away without a will he doesn't have any kids um His parents have passed away. So everything went to his full his full sister and then um
00:30:17
Speaker
like five, i I think it's five half siblings. um So they were all declared legal error. But because, you know, when there's a whole bunch of people kind of put their hand in the pot, you know, people like to to argue. um So obviously, because he didn't have a will, it started the appropriate process.
00:30:35
Speaker
um And that's where his siblings got named legal heirs. They were unable to agree on the distribution plan, which led to no basically going to court a whole bunch of times. And then three of the siblings decided in 2021 to sell their shares to a company called Primary Wave.
00:30:55
Speaker
um And Primary Wave ah acquired the rights of princes song catalogs, which you know further complicated settlement um And then like I mentioned before about the evaluation of the estate initially commercially commercial America America America the Bank America America Bank and trust value the estate at a that was that was one of the names of his sisters and you um was they valued the estate about at just over 80 million while the IRS estimated in 2020 that it's 100 or just over 160 million. So that's kind of where they kind of went down a little bit to 156 million as the final value.
00:31:40
Speaker
um Everything kind of got settled, but then this year, um there's another court battle among among the ears. ah So there is ah a company called McMillan Spicer and Torres. They filed a lawsuit alleging that Sharon and Noreen, along with Brianna and Alan, reached Prince's trust. um And so it kind of started it even more.
00:32:08
Speaker
um I'm trying to find a person there. um So the McMillan and Spicer, um they are the managers over this LLC that got created called the Prince Legacy LLC, which is a holding company that oversees half of Prince's estate.
00:32:27
Speaker
ah So the lawsuit is alleging that four of Prince's family members, so that's where Sharon and Noreen and then Brianna and Alan come in, that they improperly attempted to remove Macmillan and Spicer from the company. ah no And then they were trying to like change the bylaws of the LLC, trying to oust Macmillan and Spicer, um and like all this other stuff. And so that's where that's kind of coming up is that there's another lawsuit and they're just like, it's just continuously and old just because he didn't have estate planning in place that eight years later, like they're still arguing about this. That's crazy. Especially with one of like the biggest things for Prince. I don't know how much, you know, like in general people know about Prince, but how hard he worked to gain control of his masters, his master recordings. He finally did it in 2014 and then
00:33:22
Speaker
And then just to me, it's wild just to have like, work so hard to finally be able to have your life's work back and then just sell it off. Dinged apart again. It's crazy. Do we are there? And of course, it's just conjecture. But do we know like, was he close with his siblings or his family at all? It doesn't say I didn't see really anything about it.
00:33:49
Speaker
But I feel like if you if you were close to Prince, you would know not to do that. Like, that's just so weird to me. Well, we've seen people do weirder things. though I mean, yeah. Yeah. Fight over someone's ashes and they're not even a celebrity. So just never know. Good one. All right. Let's give Sarah a turn here and then we'll see what we have time ah left for. So Sarah, who do you have?
Estate Planning Adjustments: Kobe Bryant and Chester Bennington
00:34:16
Speaker
I have I think I'm going to pick Kobe Bryant. okay I mean, I also did Matthew Perry, but Matthew Perry had his his stuff together. So Kobe Bryant. um He he had a trust. um Obviously, his wife was the a beneficiary and um as as he had each kid he would update the trust to include each kid but what ended up happening was um six seven months before he died they had a newborn um so when she when he died they had a seven month old and that seven month old was not included in the trust um so that's a pre-terminated error by the way I don't know what that means
00:35:03
Speaker
But Keith Ledger had a pre-terminated heir. Okay. Okay. So what ended up having to happen was his wife, Vanessa had to, uh, she was a co-trustee. She had to petition to the, the court to modify the trust, to add their youngest daughter as a beneficiary. So she would have, you know, equal rights as her sisters. And otherwise if you know, the court doesn't agree, then the younger sister is unintentionally left out from millions of dollars in inheritance. And I mean, it's from what I was reading, it's likely that the court will agree to modify the trust, but the amount of money and legal fees and costs that Vanessa has had to go through to fix this um oversight or mistake is just
00:35:52
Speaker
a lot to go through when you're already grieving and you have a newborn and it's just, it's complicated. Yeah. I wonder if, and I don't know how California does this since we're not licensed there, but you know, here we do.
00:36:11
Speaker
try to include language if they feel like they're gonna have more children that says that this also includes future born or adopted children to avoid the pre-termited error ah issue. but So for all we know, it was written that way, but maybe they required something extra, or um maybe it wasn't written that way, and that's what one of the issues are, but that you know certainly is one of the differences in, at least for us,
00:36:38
Speaker
in going to a qualified law firm rather than trying to do this on your own, where we would have ah we would have covered that, you know, made sure that that um it's not such an issue. And there really is a difference in the quality of of how things are drafted and and thought through. And even celebrities with all their resources and money can still fail miserably at that.
00:37:05
Speaker
All right, Cynthia, who's your other one that you got? My other one was Chester Bennington from Lincoln Park. Not Nickelback. Not Nickelback. No, not Nickelback. That would be Sarah if a member from there had passed away.
00:37:21
Speaker
Okay, I think I do this pretty quickly. So Chester Bennington, he passed away back in 2017. So his estate was about 30 million. And he had a wife. And also he had um six kids. Two were adopted and the other four were for his entrepreneur issues. So He actually did have a will in place and he and his wife even had a trust in place.
00:37:54
Speaker
So the part where it gets interesting here is so everything was left to his wife and their children and then there were certain provisions for it. So his wife was going to be the executor for it. There was a trust established for the children and also ah part of the trust was to make sure there's money to pay for travel. So one of his biggest things was he wanted to make sure that his children got to spend time with each other and to spend time with his family. So that is one thing that he made sure that he made a request in funding for, to make sure that his kids would know that they they would know each other, they would know extended family.
00:38:39
Speaker
So everything was going pretty smoothly then. So his wife at the time of his death was his second wife. His first wife, she actually filed suit seeking um restitution for alleged child support that hadn't been paid over a span of a number of years. And so that was one of the things that like started to kind of throw a little bit of a wrench into things. And then his wife had to, they settled out of court. And so what ended up happening is, despite the fact that like he wanted everything to go to the kids, um his wife inherited, you know, a good bit of the assets because you know, they're married and he made it, surely not them. So, but they finally settled on the, um,
00:39:36
Speaker
on the child support situation because first wife withdrew that claim and instead settled for some rights to music and some merch, not everything. So she ah received about 50% of certain um royalties and his wife made sure it wasn't like everything wasn't like the new touring stuff things going forward but there was like a certain percentage that first wife got as part of a settlement after he passed away wow interesting hmm so like he did have stuff in place it was mostly this yeah i don't know people make sure you pay your child support
00:40:25
Speaker
and that yeah The royalties claim included a share of non touring merchandise, publishing rights, share of master sound recordings. So. and Wow. Well, I think we've got time for maybe a couple more. So, Sam, who do you have?
Wills and Legal Disputes: Kurt Cobain
00:40:45
Speaker
So my other one is Kurt Cobain.
00:40:48
Speaker
ah So as we know, he passed away at the age of 27 from suicide in 1994. Allegedly. Allegedly. So he did not have a will. um And He was with ah Courtney Love at the time. I believe they were in, they were about to divorce, I believe. That's what i've what I read, at least. I don't know a lot about their relationship. That's what I read.
00:41:18
Speaker
Um, but so he passed in 1994 in 1997. He, she, and, um, former Nuvana, I cannot speak today, sorry, uh, bandmates, Dave Grohl and Christ Novoselic. I don't know if I'm saying that right. They, uh, formed an LLC basically to like manage old Nirvana related projects.
00:41:42
Speaker
A couple years later, they were going to release like this massive 45 tripe box sets of like real recordings of Nirvana and Love said, to no, I'm going to file a lawsuit and dissolve the LLC. She claimed that the two, the two bandmates were Sidemen.
00:42:00
Speaker
Um, and then of course they countered that counter suit and we're like, no, we're going to move, remove you because you're incapacitated and wanted her to have a psychic examination of her. but Um, this went on for five years until they finally settled it, uh, and actually released the box set. Um,
00:42:22
Speaker
And then, good thing could be all over, but it's not. In 2004, Courtney allegedly discovered that the people who had been managing Kurt's estate had stolen about $30 million dollars in cash and about $500 million dollars in real estate holdings.
00:42:41
Speaker
um So she hired lawyers and was going to sue like a whole bunch of people, um but then for some reason didn't. um And then because that didn't happen, she decided to go to Twitter and accuse people um and all that fun stuff.
00:42:56
Speaker
um Her daughter also apparently went to court for restraining order against her. That's kind of crazy. And that is when love lost custody of her daughter as well as control of the trust that had been funded ah to that was through Cobain's estate for their daughter.
00:43:17
Speaker
um And then, um, so let, you know, again, that's what happens when you don't have a will or need state planning, just so much fighting. Um, and I guess with Courtney as well, you lose, uh, daughter's relationship who, um, okay. There was other reasons for that. I just, ah this isn't solely yet. Yeah. Just saying.
00:43:45
Speaker
Yeah, I knew as soon as I mentioned that I was gonna do Kurt and your reaction, I was like, I know Cynthia's gonna have some. I have thoughts and opinions. I will keep them to myself for now. Yeah, I'm curious. Why not share them? This is a safe space. No, it's not. um Sam, you're you're leaving out who Riley married. Who? Riley? Or not Riley, sorry. That's his name. Who Francis married.
00:44:16
Speaker
She married Tony Hawk's son. Oh, that's right. They just had a baby. oh Right. Yeah. And, you know, I saw the babies referred to as the Gen X Messiah. you There's been like this whole thing whenever they're like, oh, my gosh, Kurt Cobain's child and Tony Hawk's child. It's just such a random hearing like it's. ah great though.
00:44:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's how they met. I don't know. Yeah, I guess. Couple of same circles group and same circles. Yeah, that's good. Oh. All right. So Sarah, bring us home. Who do you have left? All right. So I have Matthew Perry. That was a tough one for me. the last one Yeah, we're coming up on a year. um writing week Yeah. So Matthew had a will and a trust. And um so really the only public thing we know about his assets is that he had
00:45:14
Speaker
ah just over a million dollars in his bank account. And um even though it was known that he owned several properties, I mean, obviously we don't, they weren't in his
00:45:26
Speaker
They weren't public. There we go. um But essentially, he had a trust. He didn't have kids. He wasn't married. um And I feel like that's a common thing we hear is people say, oh, I don't have anybody to give my stuff to, or I don't have anybody that I trust to make these decisions or things like that. But right even though he was unmarried and didn't have kids, um I mean, he named his father and his mother as beneficiaries, as well as his half-sister and his ex-girlfriend, which I thought was interesting. um But another thing I thought was interesting about his plan was that even though he didn't have kids, in it were specific instructions that any children he had would not inherit from his estate, um which I feel like
00:46:17
Speaker
What I was reading was like, that's likely to avoid claims against his estate from people alleging to his children, which is pretty smart. But I just, yeah I guess when you're famous, that happens. um And then if you're a man whore, I, well,
00:46:33
Speaker
I guess. Similarly, you know, we hear like people say like, Oh, I don't know who to trust to take care of this. um He had his business manager and a friend be the co trustees and um but his friend actually declined. So his business manager was the sole trustee and um Yeah, I mean very little is public. We don't know much about it other than what he had in his bank account. are you What I do, one last thing, is I do think the name of his trust is really interesting. um He named it the Alvi Singer Living Trust.
00:47:06
Speaker
Which is named after Woody Allen's character in the movie Annie Hall. Never seen it, but um yeah. Really? You've never seen it? He was prepared. No. Does that shock you? Well, Sarah has some very niche interests and I figured she would have seen that one. No.
00:47:26
Speaker
Aren't there ah some of his people that were around him either being sued or charged with possible wrongful death claims? Yeah. Yes. I don't remember whether it's civil or criminal, but are any of these people involved in that? I don't think so. I didn't see anything about like who the his beneficiaries or even his business manager. I mean, I think the person that's being questioned is was his assistant.
00:47:57
Speaker
Okay, yeah.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:48:04
Speaker
So while Cynthia is looking up that another interesting fact here, does anybody know who his stepdad is? hintt oh I mentioned him at lunch. You've said this. i i know who it home my god I know who it is, but my brain isn't. I also named James Brown of you know James Brown fame earlier at lunch and I thought it was him. It's not him. It was someone I saw on a plane. What's to start with? Keith. It starts with Keith and ends with Morrison.
00:48:42
Speaker
Keith Morrison. Which starts with Keith and ends with Morrison. I'm going to venture a guess that Sarah still doesn't know who that is. No. But all my true crime, all my true crime people who watch Dateline know who that is. So we're really hitting, up if there's two shows that I've watched most in my life, it is Friends and Dateline.
00:49:07
Speaker
and that Matthew Perry and his stepdad, Keith Morrison, are the common denominator in that. So there you go. Sincea, were you gonna share something? All right. Yeah, so the five people that were charged in connection with the death of Matthew Perry of friend's fame um are his personal assistant,
00:49:31
Speaker
A woman named the Ketamine Queen, or also known as the Ketamine Queen. Probably not her given name. No, not her given name. ah Two doctors. Other than someone gave it to her. looks Yes. And then so. Wasn't that a song by Abba? The Ketamine Queen? Dancing Queen. Dancing Queen.
00:50:00
Speaker
It says five in here, but I only see, enemy and mean queen, doctor,
00:50:08
Speaker
doctor. And there's Eric and Kenneth. You know who should get to the bottom of that investigation? Keith Morrison. We've come full circle. Sara.
00:50:27
Speaker
So really the moral of the story here is that celebrities are just like you and me, just better looking with a lot more money. Thanks for listening. And just to cover all our bases about what you just heard, I'm sorry and you're welcome. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about us. We do webinars and live events.
00:50:53
Speaker
The best way to stay up to date is to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Links are in the show notes. If there's a topic you'd like us to cover, maybe you have a question you'd like us to answer, or maybe you just wanna say hi, hit the link in the show notes or go to birch-law.com forward slash podcast and fill out the contact form.
00:51:23
Speaker
much better. Yeah, I thought that had a lot of energy.