Mistakes

A will documents who gets what (and when) after you die. Without a will, state law doles out your belongings. In many cases, your assets may end up in the hands of complete strangers.  That’s exactly what happened to these three mega-celebrities: James Dean. Dean died intestate (without a will) in 1955 at the age of 24. State law awarded most of his meager estate (he had only made three movies) to his father – now most of that is in the hands of his father’s relatives. His father did use some of that money to create a foundation to maximize [...]

With extreme wealth accumulated, one would assume that celebrities would take steps to protect their estates. But think again: Some of the world’s richest and most famous people enter the pearly gates with no estate plan in place, while others have made estate planning mistakes that tied their fortunes and heirs up for years in court. Let’s take a look at three high-profile celebrity probate disasters and discover what lessons we can learn from them. Tom Carvel, The Ice Cream Man As the man who invented soft-serve ice cream and established the first franchise business in America, Tom Carvel had [...]

If you’ve created a will, congratulations! You have made your intentions clear to the world and have provided for your loved ones based on what you determined was best. One caveat, and Rule #1 when creating your will – make sure to tell someone where to find it!  Olympic Gold Medalist’s Death Tears Family Apart When Will Is Lost Olympian sprinter Florence (Flo Jo) Griffith Joyner was considered to be the “fastest woman of all time” having broken records in the 100 and 200 meter sprints in the 1988 Olympics. She was only 28-years-old at the time. Sadly, she died ten years later from [...]