When “Sopranos” star James Gandolfini died last month at the age of 51, many mourned the burly actor’s premature death. But that was followed quickly by a wave of stories about Gandolfini’s will, an unusually brief and unnecessarily public document that may not have properly protected the assets he left to his wife and children.
The will, which is still being examined and debated, illustrates the importance of having a solid estate plan in place, especially if you have significant assets to protect. Even wealthy celebrities, who should have access to best financial and estate-planning advice, sometimes leave behind ugly court battles, monstrous legal fees and other entanglements due to bad planning -- or no planning.
Vickie Lynn Marshall -- better known by her stage name Anna Nicole Smith -- was 26 when she married 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall II, whom she’d met at the strip club where she worked. Her husband died 13 months later. Shortly after the marriage, the elder Marshall's son helped his father draft a new will that left her nothing and didn’t even acknowledge her as the spouse.
The billionaire's death off an epic battle that continued well after the deaths of both the son (in 2006) and the widow (in 2007). A federal judge recently ordered sanctions against the son’s estate for his conduct in hiding legal documents from Smith’s attorneys.
Smith's will (.pdf file) added more confusion and legal contention. She left everything to her son, who had died months earlier in her hospital room while visiting his mother and her newborn baby daughter. In the document, Smith said she “intentionally omitted to provide for my spouse and other heirs, including future spouse and children,” even though she had no spouse at the time the will was drafted.
The judicial order could entitle Smith's daughter, now 6, to as much as $49 million of Marshall’s estate.
The takeaway: There are many lessonshere, but the overarching one is that you need to be careful when you’re disinheriting someone. Estate planners often recommend leaving disfavored relatives at least a token amount on the condition that they agree not to challenge the will. Then at least they have something to lose and may think twice about taking up a legal fight.
Former child actor Gary Coleman didn’t have much when he died in Utah in 2010 -- just a modest house with a mortgage and some acting royalties. But he left behind dueling wills, along with a puzzling note that set off a court fight.
The first will to be filed in probate court was drafted in 1999 and left everything to his former manager. A second will signed in 2005 left his estate to a friend who once ran his corporation. After Coleman married Shannon Price in 2007, he added a codicil, or amendment, to the second will making her his heir. The handwritten codicil included some odd wording, asserting Coleman was not coerced into changing the will and adding, “This I have done because of my personal selfishness and weakness and I love her with all of my heart.”
Coleman and Price divorced a year later, which under Utah state law invalidated the codicil. Price argued, unsuccessfully, that she still should have inherited the estate because they continued to live together after the divorce.
Coleman was 42 when he fell at home and slipped into a coma. Price, whom he had empowered to make medical decisions if he were incapacitated, ordered his doctor to disconnect life support a day later. A court document later said Coleman’s living will asked that he be kept alive for at least 15 days in such circumstances.
NFL quarterback Steve McNair was 36 when he was shot to death in 2009. Police said he was murdered by his 20-year-old mistress, who then killed herself. News reports said McNair’s wife didn’t know about the girlfriend, who apparently was motivated by her belief that McNair had yet another girlfriend.
The heartache for McNair’s family didn’t end with the murder-suicide. The football player never drafted a will, so his estate -- worth more than $19 million -- was frozen while the probate process played out. McNair’s wife, Mechelle, mother to two of his four children, had to ask the court to release money to live on and to pay tax bills that might not have been incurred if McNair had invested in a decent estate plan. McNair’s mother was asked to begin paying $3,000 monthly rent on a ranch he’d built for her and where she’d lived for 15 years. She said she couldn’t afford the rent and had to move out. She then got a letter from the wife’s lawyers demanding payment for appliances and property she’d taken with her.
The takeaway: A revocable living trust would have kept McNair’s estate out of probate court and the public eye, giving the family privacy and likely saving money in court costs. Even a simple will would have been preferable to a legal battle pitting family members against each other. If you are wealthy and have minor children, you probably want your will to establish trusts for them so they don’t get all the money when they turn 18 -- the likely outcome for McNair’s children.
In a 2002 will, the well-known New York philanthropist Brooke Astor promised her son real estate in Maine and Westchester County, N.Y., as well as her Park Avenue co-op in New York City, $5 million in cash and income for life from a $60 million charitable remainder trust. That apparently wasn’t enough for Anthony Marshall, who at 89 recently began serving a one- to three-year sentence for stealing millions from his mother. Also serving time: the attorney Marshall hired to alter her will, diverting money she’d originally pledged to charities into a foundation Marshall controlled.
The unraveling started in 2006, when Marshall's son Phillip filed a lawsuit alleging he was mistreating Astor, then 104, and mismanaging her funds. The elder Marshall was dismissed as guardian and replaced by Astor’s friend, Annette de la Renta. An investigation into Marshall’s financial practices by court-appointed financial guardian JPMorgan Chase led to 16 criminal charges against him. The indictments were announced a few months after Astor died in 2007 at 105.
The takeaway: Greed is not good. Under a settlement, Marshall wound up with far less than his mother intended to give him, and her $100 million-plus estate incurred millions in legal fees and other unnecessary costs. There’s a more subtle lesson for anyone trying to establish a long-term financial dynasty. The wealth that prompted this fight wound up in the hands of people who had no blood relation to the Astors. Brooke inherited the fortune from her husband Vincent Astor, whose father died in the sinking of the Titanic. It was the third marriage for both and lasted just six years before Vincent Astor died. The son who was convicted of defrauding her was fathered by her second husband, Charles Marshall. Given the vagaries of family and marriage, it’s tough to ensure that money preserved for future generations will actually benefit them.
By Liz Weston/ From MSNmoney.com/ Posted by Mags
The will, which is still being examined and debated, illustrates the importance of having a solid estate plan in place, especially if you have significant assets to protect. Even wealthy celebrities, who should have access to best financial and estate-planning advice, sometimes leave behind ugly court battles, monstrous legal fees and other entanglements due to bad planning -- or no planning.
Vickie Lynn Marshall -- better known by her stage name Anna Nicole Smith -- was 26 when she married 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall II, whom she’d met at the strip club where she worked. Her husband died 13 months later. Shortly after the marriage, the elder Marshall's son helped his father draft a new will that left her nothing and didn’t even acknowledge her as the spouse.
The billionaire's death off an epic battle that continued well after the deaths of both the son (in 2006) and the widow (in 2007). A federal judge recently ordered sanctions against the son’s estate for his conduct in hiding legal documents from Smith’s attorneys.
Smith's will (.pdf file) added more confusion and legal contention. She left everything to her son, who had died months earlier in her hospital room while visiting his mother and her newborn baby daughter. In the document, Smith said she “intentionally omitted to provide for my spouse and other heirs, including future spouse and children,” even though she had no spouse at the time the will was drafted.
The judicial order could entitle Smith's daughter, now 6, to as much as $49 million of Marshall’s estate.
The takeaway: There are many lessonshere, but the overarching one is that you need to be careful when you’re disinheriting someone. Estate planners often recommend leaving disfavored relatives at least a token amount on the condition that they agree not to challenge the will. Then at least they have something to lose and may think twice about taking up a legal fight.
Former child actor Gary Coleman didn’t have much when he died in Utah in 2010 -- just a modest house with a mortgage and some acting royalties. But he left behind dueling wills, along with a puzzling note that set off a court fight.
The first will to be filed in probate court was drafted in 1999 and left everything to his former manager. A second will signed in 2005 left his estate to a friend who once ran his corporation. After Coleman married Shannon Price in 2007, he added a codicil, or amendment, to the second will making her his heir. The handwritten codicil included some odd wording, asserting Coleman was not coerced into changing the will and adding, “This I have done because of my personal selfishness and weakness and I love her with all of my heart.”
Coleman and Price divorced a year later, which under Utah state law invalidated the codicil. Price argued, unsuccessfully, that she still should have inherited the estate because they continued to live together after the divorce.
Coleman was 42 when he fell at home and slipped into a coma. Price, whom he had empowered to make medical decisions if he were incapacitated, ordered his doctor to disconnect life support a day later. A court document later said Coleman’s living will asked that he be kept alive for at least 15 days in such circumstances.
NFL quarterback Steve McNair was 36 when he was shot to death in 2009. Police said he was murdered by his 20-year-old mistress, who then killed herself. News reports said McNair’s wife didn’t know about the girlfriend, who apparently was motivated by her belief that McNair had yet another girlfriend.
The heartache for McNair’s family didn’t end with the murder-suicide. The football player never drafted a will, so his estate -- worth more than $19 million -- was frozen while the probate process played out. McNair’s wife, Mechelle, mother to two of his four children, had to ask the court to release money to live on and to pay tax bills that might not have been incurred if McNair had invested in a decent estate plan. McNair’s mother was asked to begin paying $3,000 monthly rent on a ranch he’d built for her and where she’d lived for 15 years. She said she couldn’t afford the rent and had to move out. She then got a letter from the wife’s lawyers demanding payment for appliances and property she’d taken with her.
The takeaway: A revocable living trust would have kept McNair’s estate out of probate court and the public eye, giving the family privacy and likely saving money in court costs. Even a simple will would have been preferable to a legal battle pitting family members against each other. If you are wealthy and have minor children, you probably want your will to establish trusts for them so they don’t get all the money when they turn 18 -- the likely outcome for McNair’s children.
In a 2002 will, the well-known New York philanthropist Brooke Astor promised her son real estate in Maine and Westchester County, N.Y., as well as her Park Avenue co-op in New York City, $5 million in cash and income for life from a $60 million charitable remainder trust. That apparently wasn’t enough for Anthony Marshall, who at 89 recently began serving a one- to three-year sentence for stealing millions from his mother. Also serving time: the attorney Marshall hired to alter her will, diverting money she’d originally pledged to charities into a foundation Marshall controlled.
The unraveling started in 2006, when Marshall's son Phillip filed a lawsuit alleging he was mistreating Astor, then 104, and mismanaging her funds. The elder Marshall was dismissed as guardian and replaced by Astor’s friend, Annette de la Renta. An investigation into Marshall’s financial practices by court-appointed financial guardian JPMorgan Chase led to 16 criminal charges against him. The indictments were announced a few months after Astor died in 2007 at 105.
The takeaway: Greed is not good. Under a settlement, Marshall wound up with far less than his mother intended to give him, and her $100 million-plus estate incurred millions in legal fees and other unnecessary costs. There’s a more subtle lesson for anyone trying to establish a long-term financial dynasty. The wealth that prompted this fight wound up in the hands of people who had no blood relation to the Astors. Brooke inherited the fortune from her husband Vincent Astor, whose father died in the sinking of the Titanic. It was the third marriage for both and lasted just six years before Vincent Astor died. The son who was convicted of defrauding her was fathered by her second husband, Charles Marshall. Given the vagaries of family and marriage, it’s tough to ensure that money preserved for future generations will actually benefit them.
By Liz Weston/ From MSNmoney.com/ Posted by Mags
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