2022 IS ALMOST HALFWAY OVER.
Lessons from the Dead & Famous

Hello,
Did your New Year Resolutions include updating or creating your estate plan?  If you’ve scratched that off your list, congrats. Well done!  If not, just a reminder, the other half of the year will be gone and before you know it you’ll be working on your 2023 resolutions.

I know you know it’s not a good thing to die without a will.  That would mean your assets would be divided as the state sees fit or under an outdated distribution scheme… and those decisions may not be what you would have wanted.  Worse still, by not having a will, or updated will, you might create a very hurtful and expensive situation for your loved ones … leading to family feuds, years of litigation, enormous legal fees, and even your adult children being permanently estranged from one another. I hope I am safe in saying …you don’t want any of that to happen.  I’m pretty sure famous folks like Abe, John, Prince and Aretha didn’t mean to leave their families in a lurch either – but it happened – perhaps because they just never got around to following through on their New Year Resolutions!

What can we learn from their mistakes? Did you know …

• President Abraham Lincoln didn’t have a will (and he was a lawyer!)?
• Singer John Denver (who died in 1997 in a plane crash) died without a will. His $19 million estate took 6 years to go through probate and included several disputes with the IRS.All of this resulted in a loss of tens of millions in taxes that could have been avoided for his children.
• More recently Prince, who died six years ago, didn’t leave a will. The estate just settled all the claims which were from both the IRS and his heirs. The legal fees total more than tens of millions in dollars and they are just now beginning the process of distributing the assets.
• Even more recently, the world lost the “Queen of Soul” – Aretha Franklin. Sadly she failed to make a will, though her long-time attorney was reported to say he had encouraged her to do so for many years. Her estate will probably be divided equally among her four sons, however, those in the know predicted that since she had a long history of debt (now visible to the public since she didn’t have a trust) creditors will be lined up making claims against the estate, which will, at minimum, delay distribution of remaining assets and could incur thousands in legal fees.

These serve as examples of why you should not delay in creating or updating your estate plan. Truly, the most difficult part of working on your estate plan is getting started.  Once you take that first step, the rest is easier than you imagine.  You might not have millions in assets but if you have loved ones you care about, you’ll get it done for them.  These famous people are just a few who show us, by example, what can happen if we don’t have a will. 

Let’s celebrate the new year, while it is still 2022, by putting the wheels in motion to get your estate plan started or updated.   Feel free to call me directly to set up an appointment at 513-399-7526. See below for a link to my recent post with more lessons from Prince about what NOT to do.