As the year draws to a close, there will be a lot of Top 10 lists showing up – biggest disasters, best cat videos, and of course, endless lists about celebrities. Andy and Danielle Mayoras over at Forbes have compiled a list of the top 10 celebrity estates of 2014, and include:
- Patrick Swayze, whose will may be challenged for forgery five years after his death.
- L’Wren Scott, whose death prompted the Rolling Stones to cancel a large leg of their tour, resulting in multiple lawsuits.
- Tom Clancy, who left a large tax bill but no clear direction as to which beneficiary should pay it.
- Lou Reed, who left everything through his will, resulting in all of his private affairs becoming public.
- Paul Walker, who hadn’t updated his will in 12 years.
- Mickey Rooney, who died nearly bankrupt after a long period of likely elder abuse, but did not leave a will and therefore left behind a fight over where he should be buried.
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, who rejected advice to place assets in trust for his children, leading to a huge tax bill.
- Robin Williams, who properly set up several trusts as well as having a will, leaving his family able to grieve because the estate was done properly.
- Joan Rivers, who had all of her documents in place to allow her daughter to follow instructions and not bear the burden of deciding whether to remove life support.
- Casey Kasem, whose children and wife fought bitterly over his care while he was alive and appear to be fighting bitterly over his burial now. They are likely to continue the fight over his life insurance and estate in the future.
You can read their full article here. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/trialandheirs/2014/12/04/the-10-biggest-celebrity-estate-stories-of-2014-and-what-you-can-learn/)
Celebrities are just like us – they make the same mistakes, and the same right choices. From these examples, we can learn what not to do and what to do in order to best protect ourselves and our loved ones.
