What Can We Learn From a Vampire’s Estate Plan?

Who can forget the 1994 Interview With the Vampire movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt? Not this girl! Well, soon to come is The Vampire Chronicles, an eight-episode AMC sequel with Sam Reid as the vampire Lestat based on Ann Rice’s popular novels.

So that got me thinking, what would the best undead character, the vampire, Lestat de Lioncourt’s, estate plan look like?

LOL Yes, even the undead need an estate plan. As we’ve seen in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the Vampire Chronicles, the Twilight Saga and True Blood, vampires do in fact die (and it’s usually very messy when they do). Should vampire Lestat come into my office (hey, this is my scenario, people) as a client, what would be his ideal Florida estate plan?

Living Will and/or Health Care Proxy – short of being killed, all of Lestat’s injuries seem to miraculously heal. He probably doesn’t need a living will (to stipulate end of life health related decisions) or a health care proxy (to identify the individual that would made those decisions should Lestat not be in the position to make those decisions for himself).

Power of Attorney – Of course, Lestat has multiple properties and assets in his name alone. A power of attorney (to allow a named agent to act on his behalf for financial related decisions) will be important for his love interest to assist while he is in a deep sleep or recuperating from the strong Florida sun. We’d want to have several backups listed in the event that Lestat outlives the first couple.

Last Will and Testament – Lestat’s last will should be a pourover will into the trust. We would want to address whether he’s married at the time; does he want his wife to inherit everything? Does Lestat have children that are minors? Is his spouse also a vampire? I suspect Lesat’s will needs to be updated every 50 years or so to account for his changing circumstances.

Trust – a trust would be a great option for Lestat. I’d want to carefully consider the Florida 360-year Rule against Perpetuities that creates a dynasty trust to make sure we are in compliance. Florida, with no state income or estate tax offers a highly advantageous legal framework for dynasty trusts.

Memorandum of Disposition – a separate list that Lestat can update himself, periodically, the memorandum of disposition allows Lestat to distribute tangible personal items at his discretion to whomever he desires. His Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, private planes and art collection can go on the memorandum. The only items NOT permissible in this memorandum is real property or cash.

Review of Assets – Even Lestat needs clear title to his real properties, and we’d want to make sure that assets accumulated through the centuries have a good chain of title in the deed records for each new identity Lestat may have assumed. We would use the a/k/a (also known as) on the deeds to identify the correct vampire.

Life Insurance – Not the best life insurance candidate, underwriting would probably not approve Lestat.

There you have it folks, we learn that even vampires need love (and an estate plan). Should you have a question about your estate plan or would like to discuss pop culture in great detail, please give me a call, we’re here 😊