What Happens to Elvis’s Legacy Now?

Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, died in 1977. Like most celebrities of his stature, he left behind a complicated legacy—and a considerable estate. Elvis’s estate, including Graceland, ended up in the hands of his only child, Lisa Marie Presley, who passed away in January at fifty-four years old. It is now set to pass to Lisa Marie’s three daughters.

Several complications could make administering Lisa Marie’s estate a messy affair, however. Personal financial issues, a wide age gap between her children, and a challenge to her will by mother Priscilla Presley cast doubt over what will happen not only to her estate, but the future of Elvis’s legacy.

Lisa Marie: Her Inheritance and Finances

Lisa Marie was born in 1968 to Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Less than a decade later, her father passed away from a heart attack at the age of forty-two. Lisa Marie would die of her own heart problems nearly forty-six years later, in January 2023.

Elvis never lost popularity in the decades following his death—his estate raked in an estimated $400 million last year, as the 2022 Elvis biopic movie helped to boost the value of the estate from around $500 million to more than $1 billion.[1]

The Elvis Presley Trust

When Elvis died, his estate was placed in a trust, with Lisa Marie, Elvis’s grandmother, and his father as the beneficiaries. Elvis stipulated that Lisa Marie’s inheritance was to be held in trust for her until her twenty-fifth birthday on February 1, 1993. On that date, the trust automatically dissolved, and Lisa Marie inherited $100 million.[2]

Part of her inheritance was her childhood home, Graceland, which has become a museum and international tourist attraction that generates over $10 million per […]

2023-04-08T08:47:27-07:00April 20th, 2023|Common Problems, Estate Fights, 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 […]

2023-02-25T07:51:53-08:00February 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, […]

2023-02-25T13:02:37-08:00January 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.”

2022-11-16T10:12:21-08:00November 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 […]

2023-02-25T12:44:12-08:00November 1st, 2022|Common Problems, Estate Planning, Rich & Famous|

Prince’s estate wants to trademark purple, the colour synonymous with the late pop singer

NEWS:  “One of Prince's many nicknames was The Purple One. It was reportedly his favourite colour, and after the success of Purple Rain its use defined his image and his legacy. Now, it is set to do so in perpetuity, as the late singer's estate looks to claim ownership over the use of “the colour purple” in films and live and recorded music. Paisley Park Enterprises, his company, filed an application earlier this month with the US Patent and Trademark Office to do just that.

2018-11-06T10:39:19-08:00November 7th, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media|

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.”

2018-11-06T10:02:36-08:00November 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.”

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

Murdoch children may get up to $2bn each in 21st Century Fox sale

The Guardian:  “Rupert Murdoch’s six children could each receive as much as $2bn (£1.5bn) from the sale of his 21st Century Fox global entertainment empire to Disney. Murdoch is in the final stages of completing the $71.3bn sale of 21st Century Fox, which includes the Hollywood studio behind hits from Deadpool to X-Men and a 39% stake in Sky. The family trust, which the 87-year old Murdoch controls, owns a 17% stake in Fox worth a little over $12bn. The beneficiaries of the trust, in which Murdoch has no financial interest, are his children Prudence, James, Lachlan and Elisabeth. Grace and Chloe, his daughters with his former wife Wendi Deng Murdoch, whom he divorced five years ago, are also beneficiaries but have no voting interest in it.”

2018-10-23T15:33:28-07:00October 25th, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media|

Paul Allen’s $26 Billion Estate Will Take Years To Unravel

Financial Advisor:  “Paul Allen’s family office will live long and prosper. The billionaire’s vast holdings at Vulcan Inc. — with real estate, art, sports teams and venture capital stakes — would take years to unravel, if that’s even what he wanted. Allen, who died Monday, had no spouse or children to divide his empire. But there are many others with interests at stake, including family, staff and charities, as well as potential investors eager to snap up pieces.”

2018-10-23T15:30:56-07:00October 24th, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media, Trusts, Wills|

Do Princess Eugenie & Jack Brooksbank Have A Prenup? The Answer Is Pretty Surprising

Elite Daily:  “The upcoming royal wedding of Princess Eugenie and long-time boyfriend Jack Brooksbank has the whole world talking, and it's for good reason. Princess Eugenie and Brooksbank are fairly low key and lead relatively normal lives compared to their fellow royal family members, which makes their love story surprisingly relatable. However, because they’re such a low-key couple, there are tons of unanswered questions about their Oct. 12 wedding. For instance, do Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank have a prenup? It’s not a totally off-base question, but it’s also sort of complicated. The soon-to-be married couple has been together seven years, but with the royal family, nothing is off the table. (Except bright nail polish, of course.) The thing is, the royal family is high-profile on a worldwide scale. They’re basically like the Kardashians, but British and with crowns, titles, and dress codes. Marrying into the fam is a pretty big deal, and just like celebrities sign prenuptial arrangements, you might expect the royal family to follow suit. But surprisingly, that's not the case.”

2018-10-15T13:41:14-07:00October 16th, 2018|Prenuptial Agreements, Rich & Famous, Social Media|

What Can Fred Trump’s Estate Teach Us?

Wealth Management:  “The president’s propensity for fudging the numbers runs in the family. That’s the main takeaway from The New York Times’ exhaustive look Tuesday at the myriad of methods that the president’s father, Fred Trump, used to minimize taxes while transferring his wealth—$413 million—to his children. What’s interesting is just how permissive the gift and estate tax regime is to those willing to fudge the truth, sometimes brazenly.”

2018-10-08T14:13:12-07:00October 11th, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media|

What ‘Succession’ And Sumner Redstone Can Teach Us About Planning Ahead For Senior Care

Forbes:  “Many of us have read the titillating and tragic story of Sumner Redstone, the former executive chairman of Viacom, and the litigious financial power struggle that has embroiled his family. Redstone’s story was a key influence on the HBO hit series Succession, which involves a lot of money, a pugnacious media mogul, a conniving lover, and children trying to wrest control of the family fortune from a sordid mess. Most of us won’t need to worry about a multi-billion-dollar empire, and our family struggles may appear mundane by comparison. But disagreements over money can and often do prevent families from making the right choices about care.”

2018-10-01T11:18:07-07:00October 1st, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media, Trusts, Wills|

Tom Clancy’s Maryland Estate Hits Market for $6.2M

Barrons:  “The 537-acre Maryland estate of the late American novelist Tom Clancy has come on the market for US$6.2 million. The author of bestsellers like Clear and Present DangerPatriot Games, and The Hunt for Red October owned the sprawling property about 45 miles south of Washington, D.C., for decades until his death in 2013 at age 66. It includes acres of woods, private beach on Chesapeake Bay and a three-story custom home with a number of amenities suited to a spy fiction writer. The 17,000-square-foot main house has an underground, two-lane shooting range, which “offers an opportunity to practice your marksmanship in complete privacy,” according to listing agent Angel Stevens of Cummings & Co. Realtors.”

2018-09-24T14:50:07-07:00September 27th, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media|

‘Carol Burnett’ star Tim Conway recovers from brain surgery as family battle over comic’s fate rages on

Fox:  “Tim Conway is recovering from brain surgery as his daughter and second wife fight in court over his care, Fox News learned Monday. The “Carol Burnett Show” star’s daughter, Kelly Conway, revealed that a Los Angeles court has decided a permanent conservatorship of the actor will be appointed in November. Kelly and her stepmother Charlene Conway each want sole conservatorship over the 84-year-old, who is suffering from dementia.“My brothers and I would like to thank the overwhelming support for my dad from fans all over the world that are contacting me via phone, email and social media,” Kelly told Fox News in a statement. “It lifts my brothers and me”

2018-09-24T14:43:08-07:00September 26th, 2018|Estate Fights, Healthcare Directives, Rich & Famous, Social Media|

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.”

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

Burt Reynolds Left His Only Son Out of His Will and Created a Trust for Him Instead

People:  “Screen legend Burt Reynolds left his only son out of his will — but did not cut him out. The will, which was obtained by TMZ, says of Quinton, “I intentionally omit him from this, my Last Will and Testament, as I have provided for him during my lifetime in my Declaration of Trust.” The will, which was signed in 2011, appoints Reynolds’ niece Nancy Lee Brown Hess as the personal representative of Reynolds’ estate. Reynolds lists his great nephew Brian Ritchey Brown and then his great niece Tracy Erin Rogers as the next personal representative were anything to happen to the previous one.”

2018-09-24T12:10:35-07:00September 24th, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media, Trusts, Wills|

Aretha’s Lack of a Will Could Make Things Rocky for Heirs

Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog: Estate law experts expressed surprise but not shock that a wealthy person like Aretha Franklin would put off making a will until it was too late. Laura Zwicker, an attorney who specializes in estate planning but is not affiliated with the Franklin estate, says she sees it happen far too often. “People don't like to face their own mortality.

2018-09-04T12:15:30-07:00September 4th, 2018|Beneficiaries, Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media|

“Que Je T’Aime”: L’affaire d’heritage de Johnny Hallyday

The National Law Review:  “As a battle rages on in Nanterre, west of Paris, over the estate of Johnny Hallyday, who is best known as the “French Elvis”, and spills out across the pages of the tabloid press in France, we offer a view from Hallyday’s adopted home, Los Angeles, California. It is, after all, the central question of this affair whether a will and trust executed in California under California law, which was intended to dispose of assets that include Hallyday’s properties in Santa Monica and Los Angeles, will be respected or tossed aside as a violation of French forced-heirship laws. The saga of the Hallyday case is a cautionary tale for French nationals who reside outside of France or who have property or assets outside of France, or for foreigners who may be considered domiciliaries of France (or other nations with inheritance laws that differ from France), as well as for members of their families whose inheritance may be caught in between.”

2018-08-27T10:39:31-07:00August 31st, 2018|Estate Planning, Rich & Famous, Social Media, Wills|
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