Rocker Tom Petty died on Oct. 2, 2017, leaving behind his widow and two grown daughters from a previous marriage. Tom put together an estate plan that included a trust (so far so good). He named his wife, Dana York Petty, as the sole trustee (sounds right) but stated that his daughters, ““shall be entitled to participate [Read More ...]
There’s a new beef among the Boar’s Head heirs LOL. The death of Barbara Brunckhorst, the daughter of one of the Boar’s Head co-founders, triggered a legal dispute between the descendants of the two families that control the meat company. Frank Brunckhorst and Bruno Bischoff started the Brooklyn-born, $1-billion-in-annual-revenue company by selling their meats from horse-drawn wagons [Read More ...]
Actress Elizabeth Hurley and her son, Damian Hurley, recently prevailed in a California legal battle over Damian’s inheritance from his billionaire grandfather. As it happens, Hurley and another woman, both had children (Damian and Kira) with the late Stephen Bing, whose father, Dr. Peter Bing, has an estimated $2 billion fortune. A fortune he didn’t want to [Read More ...]
Earlier this week, Ed Sheeran let it slip that he’s building a burial chamber on his Suffolk estate, which he refers to as "Sheeran-ville". The morbid addition to the Bad Habit singer's home will be located in a church that is currently being constructed on his property. As we can imagine, the extensive renovations and additions [Read More ...]
Being the Ricardos is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, starring Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball…"Lucy! I'm home!" Our lesson, however, is regarding Lucille Ball’s estate plan. Lucille Ball passed away on April 26, 1989, leaving a second husband (actor Gary Morton) and two children (Lucie and Desi Arnaz Jr.) from her marriage to Desi [Read More ...]
Martin Scorsese is directing a musical biopic about the Grateful Dead, with Jonah Hill as the iconic rock band’s front-man, Jerry Garcia. Many of us remember Garcia’s passing on August 9, 1995 at the young age of 53. Because he found his way into this newsletter, we’re not surprised to learn that his estate was [Read More ...]
Paris Hilton is married! Hilton and her beau, Carter Reum, tied the knot on November 10, 2021, in LA. The wedding was attended by all of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (RHOBH), Kim Kardashian and Paula Abdul, among other reality royalty. The festivities will air on Paris’s reality show as well as the RHOBH! [Read More ...]
The Addams Family 2 hit the theaters October 2nd, and this got me thinking, what estate plan would I give this creepy, spooky, kooky family? A retired lawyer, Gomez would certainly have gone through the trouble of an elaborate estate plan. We’ve seen Gomez squander money in a cavalier manner, loses it on stocks, and [Read More ...]
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, [Read More ...]
And just like that, Sex and the City is coming back! A 10-episode revival will include 3 members of the original cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis. Those of us “in the know”, are not surprised that Kim Cattrall won't return to her role as Samantha Jones. I get it, she’s not [Read More ...]
As reality TV takes over the world (or is that just me projecting?), we find ourselves discussing a South Korean reality television show that focuses on crypto investors, bitcoin (BTC) enthusiasts and miners. So, this begs the question; what can we learn from crypto TV? Despite its name, cryptocurrency is not treated like bank accounts, [Read More ...]
Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos, passed away this year after a tragic accident at the age of 46. Worth around $850 million dollars at his death, Tony has become well-known for the critical mistakes he made in his estate planning. It turns out Tony died without a will (of course!) and instead left “thousands” [Read More ...]
One of pop-culture’s favorite newsmen, Larry King lived a colorful life (married 8 times!!) and his estate is proving to be just as exciting (Well, at least for me, lol). It turns out that he scribbled down a few sentences during his last divorce. As every reader of this blog already knows, a handwritten last [Read More ...]
Cardi B is heading to court to defend the picture on her first album, Gangsta B---h Music Vol. 1. Kevin Brophy Jr., is suing Cardi B for $5M and alleging that she misappropriated his likeness by using his back tattoo as part of the album artwork. He argues that Cardi B used the tattoo in [Read More ...]
Joe Robbie, the former owner the Miami Dolphins passed away in January 1990. The bulk of his estate was tied up in the Dolphins, and he had clearly not been reading my newsletters. Riddled with family fighting, Robbie’s children were forced to sell the franchise at a deeply discounted price in order to pay the [Read More ...]
I guess we all could predict this fracture of union, but as a lover of love (don’t laugh) it’s sad to see. Still, there is so much to learn from these two. We’ve all heard that Kanye’s mental state has been a topic of discussion and while I don’t have an opinion on the matter, [Read More ...]
Tom Carvel (yes, of Carvel Ice Cream), the creator of soft serve ice cream and one of the founding fathers of the franchise system in America passed away in 1990 with an estate valued at $67 million. A sticky mess, with over 18 years of litigation and more than 40 attorneys involved, around $28 million [Read More ...]
Many of us were saddened to hear that the Argentinian soccer star, Diego Armando Maradona, died in November at the age of 60. Arguably the one of the greatest soccer players of all time, after his death, Argentina issued a three-day period of mourning in honor of his passing. Known to live large, Maradona’s estate [Read More ...]
This hits a little too close to home. Now y’all know my (not so) secret love of reality TV and my passion for the law, but this story is a troubling mashup. A Miami Judge, the Honorable Carroll Kelly, of the 11th Judicial Circuit, is facing ethics charges for allowing the producers of a reality [Read More ...]
I binged the Crown recently (don’t be so judgy LOL. In episode 4 of Season 4, The Queen sets up meetings with each of her four children to see them, for the first time, as humans and decide who is her “favourite.” This got me thinking about our estate planning and the roles we usually [Read More ...]
The masterminds behind the series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Ken Spears (age 82) and Joe Ruby (age 87) died within three months of each other of natural causes earlier this year. Of course, their production company produced several other animated series including Alvin and the Chipmunks, Superman and Thundarr the Barbarian, but Scooby Doo is [Read More ...]
Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, has it in his contract that his character can't a lose fight in the Fast & Furious franchise films. In fact, his contracts specify how badly he can be beaten up on screen. It's clear that these clauses are to avoid looking "wimpy" or changing the narrative without [Read More ...]
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are fighting (again, sigh). What happens when they divorce, they're Florida residents and Kanye's too busy taking over the world and forgets to remove Kim as his beneficiary on his life insurance? According to Florida law, Kim, as the former spouse is not entitled to the benefits. Section 732.703 states [Read More ...]
The term "super influencer" has emerged as a public figure critical to a brand's success, amassing followers and shortly after wealth. Most likely, it'll be your teenager that's the influencer in the family, but it could be you (heck-yeah, we're still cool!) The lack the proper business succession and estate planning tools to safeguard these [Read More ...]
The outbreak of Coronavirus has people all over the world thinking about their advanced directives. While this topic is generally annoying to think about (adulting is annoying) and even more annoying to discuss with your loved ones, estate planning is now more than ever a critical tool that can be used to assure that your [Read More ...]
The legendary county singer, Kenny Rogers passed away on March 20 at the age of 81. The six-decade superstar sustained 5 marriages and a restaurant chain. Given his entrepreneurial ambitions, there is a chance that the Gambler's Personal Representative will need to act before the Judge makes it into his chambers to sign the probate [Read More ...]
Florida Homestead laws, actually a part of the Florida constitution, are difficult to navigate and what better guide than King Henry VIII and his former 6 wives! Lets assume that the 1509-1547 English Monarch resided in Florida, never added any of his victims (er...wives) to the deed on his homestead property and didn't have a [Read More ...]
