CELEBRITY ESTATE PLANNING Misfires of the Rich and Famous VI
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s estate planning professionals, we see many clients with poorly drafted documents and poorly conceived estate plans. Sometimes the errors made are based on mistakes of fact and sometimes they are based on mistakes of law. If clients come in time, these estate planning misfires can usually be avoided. If not, the consequences for the client’s family can be devastating. Surprisingly, wealthy celebrities are often the recipients of poor estate planning. When estate planning misfires occur, litigation among family members and with taxing authorities can be the ultimate result. The misfires discussed below involve celebrities, but the overarching issues relate to everyone. Jessica Galligan Goldsmith is co-managing partner in the White Plains office of Kurzman Eisenberg Corbin & Lever, LLP. Erica Howard-Potter is a partner in the New York office of Pryor Cashman LLP. John S. Kiely is counsel in the New York office of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Merrie Jeanne Webel is a partner at Webel Law, PLLC. Kristen A. Curatolo and David E. Stutzman are partners in the New York office of Seward & Kissel LLP. Samuel F. Thomas is an associate in the New York office of Seward & Kissel LLP.
Ray Charles: Even the Best Laid Result: At least a half dozen lawsuits Plans Can Go Awry were initiated between Charles’s children Background: Ray Charles was a prolific, and Adams for trademark infringement, blind, award-winning musician. Charles right to name and likeness, breach of fiduovercame a tragic childhood, the loss of ciary duties, unfair business practices, his sight, and drug addiction to rise to and Charles’s copyrights, among other musical stardom. He is on the short list of causes of action. Some actions were disartists to be inducted into both the Rock missed for procedural issues and some and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country were settled. Although Charles died on Music Hall of Fame. June 10, 2004, various lawsuits continued Estate Plan: Charles was the father of 12 well into 2017. children by 10 different women. Facing a terminal diagnosis, Charles created trusts funded with $500,000 for each of his children. He communicated to each child that the trust for his or her benefit would be his or her sole inheritance from him, and the balance of his estate would pass to Charles’s charitable foundation. Charles’s longtime manager, Joe Adams, was named as trustee of the trusts, executor of Charles’s estate, and sole chairman, president, and treasurer of the foundation. Charles’s children believed that there would be more for them “down the line,” including the valuable right to license Charles’s name and likeness. Needless to say, Photo by Maurice Seymour, New York. Wikimedia Charles’s children and Adams did Commons. not get along.
Published in Probate & Property, Volume 37, No 6 © 2023 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. 16
November/December 2023
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By Jessica Galligan Goldsmith, Erica Howard-Potter, John S. Kiely, Merrie Jeanne Webel, Kristen A. Curatolo, David E. Stutzman, and Samuel F. Thomas
