What Can We Learn From Bruce Lee?

The famed actor and martial artist, Bruce Lee, died in 1973 at the age of 32 leaving behind an estate worth $10M, a wife, two children and a mess of an estate. It took over 30 years for his family to regain control and manage his intellectual property rights. But that’s not what we’re going to talk about today. 

We are going to discuss his posthumous martial arts film, Game of Death. It turns out that Lee filmed around 100 minutes of footage prior to his death (only 11 minutes were used) and the rest of the movie comprised of archived footage from Lee’s fights in other films and footage from Lee’s funeral. Yes, his open casket was in a scene where the main character fakes his own death to escape the mafia. 

So, what can we learn from the master of the open casket cameo?

We can discuss whether someone’s remains (ashes or body) are an asset of the estate.

I won’t keep you in suspense. The remains of a decedent are not considered “property” under Florida Statutes and therefore, the decedent’s intent (as opposed to the survivor’s intent) controls the disposition of the decedent’s own remains. So, who has the final say over what happens to someone’s remains? The FL statutes provide a list of people who may be authorized to make decisions regarding what will happen to someone’s remains. The list is in descending order of priority beginning with the decedent’s written instructions. Of course, leaving instructions will provide clarity regarding one’s wishes and control. 

We call this the Disposition of Remains Document. This is a legal document that specifies a person’s wishes for their body after death, such as cremation or burial, and details for a funeral or memorial service. If no instructions can be located, the FL statutes list is very similar to the intestate rules which put a spouse at the top, followed by children, parents, siblings, etc. Whoever is authorized to make final decisions over the remains can also distribute of the remains. And of course, if there’s a conflict, the dispute will be resolved by the probate court.

So, there you have it. We learn that I grew up watching Bruce Lee movies and it’s very obvious that Bruce Lee’s charisma transcends his death, right from the start.