Florida Probate Attorney and Florida Inheritance Lawyer Florida Probate Attorney Blog

Celebrity Estate Litigation - Recent Probate Litigation Disputes.

This ABC news article about Estate Litigation disputes discusses Probate Litigation, Will Contests and various challenges and family feuds from Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Brooke Astor and a number of other trust and estate litigation issues going on in probate courts throughout the country. Click on the link to read about the probate and estate dispute litigation and the reasons the other believed caused the disputes and challenges to the wills, trusts, guardianship designation or control over the estates.

Funeral plots around Michael Jackson become more expensive

 As this article - Funeral Plots - mentions the Forest Lawn Memorial plots have risen in value since Michael Jackson was burried there. It used to be $7k for a plot but is now around $10k for a similar space in surrounding space and some neighboring owners are seeking to receive even higher figures to sell their spaces.

New York Probate Litigation - $100 Million Dollar Estate in 1931.

Long before the Estate of Vincent Astor was the subject of signicant estate litigation in 1959 or Brooke Astor trust and estate litigation issues brought criminal charges for will and trust issues and caught national headlines Thomas Patrick Morris was jailed for fraud in claiming to have been the child of her brother and have a will making him entitled to the assets of her estate. Ella Von Echtzel Wendal a wealthy Fifth Avenue heiress and last child in the Wendel family that had accumulated a vast real estate empire. Interestingly her grandfather was the step brother of John Jacob Astor and was advised to buy New York real estate. In a detailed story claimed to be the sole heir of the estate worth estimated at as much as $100 million of dollars in 1931. (although some say above $100 million estate and others say a range of $30 million up to that it would be very large even without inflation making that considerably larger in todays money) The estate was represented by John Marshall Harlan II a future Supreme Court Justice. With some good litigation ability he exposed Mr. Morris story and will as frauds for which was subsequently arrested arrested and jailed and also defended the will against around 2300 who filed claims against the estate. Nearly all of the claimants were fraudulent although he eventually negotiated a settlement with 9 distant relatives note mentioned in the will who collectively received $2.125m during the 1933 settlement in the New York Surrogate Court which resolves Probate Litigation and all disputed matters. The remainder of the money went to various charities as provided by her will despite some challenges to her testamentary capacity.

Her brother John Gotlieb Wendel prevented his six sisters from marrying other than one later in life since they did not want to split up the real estate and have less in the family. 

There was a book written about this case with the title Forgery, Perjury and an Enormous Fortune   2303 Claimants to the 1931 Ella Wendel Estate there is also an online Time Magazine  article regarding this case.  

An interesting article regarding the family and the case can also be viewed by clicking here. One interesting note is that the New York Probate Litigation in the surrogate's court and related litigation concerning estate related matters appeared in the New York Times 67 times in 1931 alone showing that high profile probate litigation and probate settlement issues have been heavily covered for nearly 80 years now. Recently there have been a lot of these types of cases concerning celebrity or high profile indviduals with the just starting Michael Jackson situation in which custody is in dispute and some aspects may be contested if the no contest clause of the trust would not apply as has already asked for an interpretation regarding that, Brooke Astor criminal litigation case is ongoing with the direct trust and estate litigation cases likely to follow. The James Brown probate and trust litigation issues were finally settled earlier this year and  Anna Nicole Smith still has her estate suing the estate of her much older husband Mr. Marshall which has been going on nearly 15 years now despite the death of all parties initially involved and last years estate settlement  of Luciano Pavarotti's among many other celebrity trust and estate litigation issues. The media coverage or existence of this high profile estate and trust litigation is unlikely to end anytime soon either. There is already an article of tension regarding the children of Walter Cronkite and his companion the last four years the sister of singer Carly Simon.  

Adoption dispute precursor for Trust Litigation re large inheritance.

As Clarke Canfield of AP reported Maine's Supreme Court upheld the adoption of a woman who is seeking to make a claim to an inheritance of the father of her former lesbian partner. They overturned a 2008 decision from a lower court which overturned the decision.

43 year old Olive Watson adopted 42 year old partner Patricia Spado in 1991 in Maine where they merely spent some weeks at during the summers but were not residents of. This was done since Olive Watson's father Thomas Watson Jr. who built IBM into a multi billion dollar computer company thereby earning a fortune himself in the process. His dad was the initial president of IBM and he took over and ran the company 1952-1971 but prior to his leadership they had not shipped a single computer. As a result of his leadership and he was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential men of the 20th century. 

His daughter adopting her partner as her daughter established that she was the grandchild of her father. They never told the father about the adoption or disclosed their relationship to the court. The relationship ended a year after the adoption but for some reason she did not seek to annul it then and still did not let her father know about it.

The following year her father died in 1993 unaware of the adoption or having an additional grandchild. He had prepared a trust that provided upon the death of himself and his spouse grandchildren would be entitled to cash payments at age 35. The spouse died in 2004. Her fathers other beneficiaries or heirs challenged the adoption in 2005 in Maine since they did not comply with residency requirements which were part of the law at the time of the challenge and arguing a fraud on the court in not disclosing the relationship they had and the relationship being formed not to be mother daughter but to provide an inheritance.

The Maine Probate Court Judge who granted the adoption in 1991 annulled it in 2008 on the residency issue. It was then appealed and the Maine Supreme Court ruled that it did comply with the residency requirement at the time of the adoption. The court further held that there was insufficient evidence of fraud and that historically adult adoptions had been allowed in order to convey inheritance rights, provide perpetual care to a disabled adult adoptee or formalize an existing parent-child relationship and not merely for the last reason.

The Court was also addressing arguments of the Trustees who were seeking to dispute the adoption since it was a sham inventing inheritance rights instead of seeking a traditional parent child relationship and the father did not know about it. The trust litigation issue will now continue as the father died in Connecticut and the attorneys for the trustees and lawyers for the adopted child will argue regarding whether she should be entitled to her share. While she is not specifically named in the trust it does say all grandchildren will receive a cash payout at 35 and as an adopted child of her ex partner who was her daughter she legally is his grandchild and is thus arguably entitled to the cash payout.

The case will now move to CT probate court to determine if Spado is entitled to any of the vast trust and estate fortune. Michael Koskoff the lead trust litigation attorney in the Connecticut case said "now the fireworks will start".

Florida is one of just two states in the country which does not allow gay people to adopt. This is a disputed issue now with groups seeking to contest this and allow everyone to adopt and raise a family. Florida adoption law however like that of Maine allows for adults to adopt other adults and there is no age or other restrictions. The Florida Adoption Statute can be read by clicking here. When adoption is intended to be that of a parent and child relationship it seems bizarre that anybody could adopt anybody even a 40 or 50 year old competent and healthy individual being adopted by another of the same age. Given this Maine case illustrating the pitfalls of adoption in these circumstances and the additional trust litigation or estate litigation that can occur as a result those who believe in gay adoption may wish to change the statute in Florida to put a limit on age at which a person may be adopted to 18 or show that the relationship is a legitimate parent child relationship and why it is being done if a person is being adopted as a child who is above that age. Then the debate would truly be of everyone being able to adopt children and not side stepping alternate life style marriages not being allowed and seeking to artificially create inheritance rights and in the Maine case without even the knowledge of the grantor. That would merely add to increased Florida Probate Litigation disputes or Florida Trust Litigation challenges. It therefore appears that until the age loophole and allowing anyone to adopt anyone at any age and for any reason that the restriction on adoption that Florida has is a good procedural safeguard to avoid disputed situations like the Maine Litigation which is now shifting to an Inheritance Litigation case in Connecticut arguing over the trust.

The Florida Adoption statute for Florida Inheritance purposes can be read by clicking here.  

One final note of interest is that if it had been a revocable trust and the grantor had mental capacity at the time had Olive Watson mentioned the adoption to her father at the time the relationship broke up he could have removed her "child" from his estate plan even if the adoption argument were not successful and it would have avoided litigation before the Maine Probate Judge to challenge the adoption last year or again last week.

Michael Jackson Revocable Trust

According to TMZ.com the trust estate will be divided: 

Katherine Jackson will get 40% of the assets.
Michael's 3 kids will get another 40%.
Remaining 20% goes to several children's charities. Charities have not been designated yet and are not specified in the trust.

Estate Lawyers to discuss James Brown Trust & Estate Litigation Settlement

As reported by AP Attorneys representing heirs of James Brown estate are headed to a South Carolina Probate Court after requests to stop a court approved settlement agreement regarding the trust and estate issues of singer James Brown which had been the source of extensive litigation. It had been agreed that half of the assets would go to charity, one quarter would go to his wife and youngest child and the remainder would go to his remaining children. The court appointed trustees however mention that interested parties were left out of the settlement.

Millionaire Populations plunges 15% throughout the world.

A Wall Street Journal blog reported that a Merrill Lynch survey showed that the world millionaires had fallen 15% from 2007 to 2008 and there were now 8.6 millionaires in the world. They defined a millionaire as someone who had $1m in investable assets. Those individuals saw their assets decline 20% in the year of their study. 

The Super rich as defined as $30 million in investable assets had their ranks drop by 25% from 2007 to 2008 and the overall assets dropped 24%.

The Super wealthy consisted of less than 1% of the millionaire population although it had 34.6% of the millionaire assets.

The United States millionaire population lost less money than most countries falling 19%, the U.K. had a 26% drop, while Russia dropped 27%, India fell 32% and Australia and Canada both topped 23%.

Those least effected include Brazil, with a 9% drop, and China, with a 12% fall.

The US millionaire population is back at around 2004 levels.

 

Katherine Jackson granted temporary guardianship by probate court.

As this article mentions Michael Jackson's mother was given temporary guardianship of all three of Michael's children. For Debbie Rowe the mother of two of the children her address was listed as "unknown". Strangely instead of unknown regarding who the mother of the 3rd child was the Jackson petition had said none regarding the mother.

A court hearing is schedule for August 3 to determine where the who is best for the children to have as their guardianship. Ms. Rowe's attorney has indicated she would likely contest custody of the children and guardianship of her two children with Michael based on being the natural parent but gave no further information.

Estate Tax Issues concerning the right of publicity

Paul L. Caron a law professor at University of Cincinatti had reported about a Supreme Court case concerning the Estate of Andrews in 1994 which held that based on Internal Revenue Code Section 2033 that the right of publicity was includable in the estate of the decedent. He also proposed the idea that estate planning to resolve this issue could be done. He suggested gifting the right to a trust towards the start of the individuals career or fame so the increase in value would not be includible in their estate. Although it was not specifically mentioned the transfer would of course need to go to be gifted to an irrevocable trust so that the celebrity had no rights to alter, amend, or revise their gift as they would if it were to a revocable trust for which they would likely be a trustee in which case it would be includible just as a life insurance policy would be if transfered to a revocable trust but not if properly devised to an irrevocable life insurance trust. Additionally he discussed how it is important that the rights of a celebrity be respected if it was someone who valued their fame and sought the spotlight that it may be used more extensively in the estate while someone who shun the spotlight during life would likely not want the right of publicity used to the contrary after their death although the IRS values the right at its fair market value not taking into consideration how it is intended to be used and a validly executed disclaimer could sometimes make sense he mentioned. A link to his comments can be found here. As there does not appear to have been any estate planning for Michael Jackson and a will cannot even be located yet although the value of the estates right of publicity will be quite extensive and estate taxes are due within 9 months following the date of death. This will cause a potential disaster for an estate which has debts of around a half a billion dollars already, numerous disputes and litigation issues which will need to be resolved and assets worth up to around a billion dollars prior to the value of the right to publicity but with no spouse his estate will receive just a $3.5 million estate tax exemption and while Paul McCartney or someone may buy the Beatles catalog which is the largest estate asset but it is not marketable in the same way that 100 shares of IBM stock would be and liquidating assets within the time period to pay estate taxes could be problematic. The valuation issues concerning some of the assets will also be an interesting situation to deal with as he had some unusual assets.

Right of publicity - IP Attorneys ready for disputes in Jackson estate

National Law Journal reports that there will be a number of intelectual property attorneys overseeing whether anything from the moonwalk to Jacksons face, image or other rights of pubilcity are being violated and that the estate is likely to protect his image aggressively from those who are seeking to make a quick dollar including even those who come out with shirts having his face on them which already began. 

Frequent Estate Litigation expected for Michael Jackson estate

Law.com reports that a history of litigation concerning Michael Jackson will carry over to his estate which will face an extended amount of estate litigation and need to deal with extensive disputes and contests as he had dealt during his life.  

As this Blog reports the actress / model from the thriller video joined the Litigation party of suing Michael Jackson shortly prior to his passing. She was seeking further compensation for the video as the director had also sued his production company seeking to litigate the amount that he should have received which was a dispute between himself and Michael Jackson.

Money Magazine also reported regarding how much the concert was intended to make and how there was already litigation which may occur from the tour.

Billboard.com referred to Michael Jackson as the king of litigation a play on his nickname of the king of pop and mentioned that some of the ongoing lawsuits that he has will now be handled by his estate who will have to continue to pursue or defend a number of various disputes. Among them include a 75 year old African singer suing despite having already reached a settlement for a portion of a song in 1983 that used borrowed lyrics. He then allowed Rihana to use a song which had that portion of the song so they were both sued in France last February. Given that medications may have played a role in his passing it is also interesting to note that he was once sued for not paying a prescription drug bill which was in excess of $100,000.

He was even sued in late December of 2008 by a woman claiming to be Billie Jean Jackson (although her name is actually Laron Poulis) arguing she was Billie Jean from his 1983 hit Billie Jean not my lover but she in fact was and that they were married and she was the mother of Blanket. This time she sued for $1 billion on behalf of the daughter and joint custody. She had sued him decades previously claiming 3 children of hers were his as well but lost. He is also being sued by concert promoters and according to the Billboard article has been sued by people connected with Wall Street as well as Sotheby's. Given these lawsuits, the custoday issues with the children and debts expected at around $500 million and assets including some Beatles songs worth around a Billion dollars and no will or estate planning documents have been found it will be an interesting and challenging estate to unravel and resolve all of the disputes involved.  

Michael Jackson family to fight for control of estate and children

As  Indiana News Center reported the family of Michael Jackson plans to fight for control of his estate and his children in Probate Court and will pursue any estate disputes that arise.  

Yahoo reported that Katherine Jackson the mother of Michael Jackson will seek control of the estate and had filed documents to do so shortly after having filed documents to serve as the guardian of the three children of Michael Jackson. California Probate court will have jurisdiction regarding these matters. 

California law provides if there is no will as he was not married it would pass to his children and the guardian of the children would control. Debbie Roe the mother of two of the children may seek to contest who receives custody regarding the children. She had terminated her rights to the children but then had subsequently sought to regain rights. The judge will determine what is in the best interests of the children. The 3rd child of Michael Jackson was from a surrogate who had no relationship to the child and in that case seems clear it will go to the Jackson family as they have a relationship with them and the woman never acted or was intended to be a mother to the children. The judge may determine that the interests of the mothers were waived and they belong together and with the Jackson family.

As a Fox News Fox News article points out this has some similarity to the Anna Nicole Smith situation in which a relative who had been distant was seeking custody and there was a dispute from another relative although in that case it was a lot easier decision given that there was a father who had not waived his rights. They also point out that there are rumors of Michael's mom who is in late 70s being in poor health and the court having thrown out the agreement in which Ms. Rowe waived all rights on a technicality although it was never further pursued and the consensus in this situation was given the closer relationship the family had with the children and keeping the siblings together as well as the contract it was more likely than not the Jackson family would prevail if they were considered fit. Also a former family attorney Debri Opri who assisted Larry Birkhead mentioned even if there was no will that Jackson may have otherwise legally documented who he wanted to have his children. That is a frequent reason for people with minor children especially in his situation to prepare a will though is to provide a preference for whom the guardian should be. A final note of interest was that stores have noted that his record sales have surged since his death last week and this may help the estate to pay off some of the massive $400-500 million in debt it faces.

This video on Yahoo is of a forensic pathologist who discusses what the autopsies are likely to show regarding Michael Jackson.

First Guy to get face transplant discusses his situation

Video of recent history re transplants and face transplant discussing his procedure.

New law helps Florida property owners dispute tax assessments

Joe Ruble reported of a change in Florida Property tax law where Florida Property owners do not have to prove that the assessment is wrong in which only 10% of those disputing their property tax assessment won their disputes in 2007 (other than Dade County) which had a different type of dispute process. The new law will allow allows taxpayers to merely bring more compelling evidence of their assessment in order to prevail with a change in their Florida property tax valuation. Florida Governor Charlie Crist said this was intended to bring fairness back to the Florida homeowners. For the full article see New law helps property owners dispute tax assessments.

To avoid will disputes & achieve intent intestate succession law revised

In the article Spouses automatically inherit under new law it was mentioned that New South Whales Australia changed their intestate succession laws. While it will not impact my clients the article was of interest to compare how things are there versus Florida and the US and the reason for acting.

The state attorney General John Hatzistergos said "When people die without leaving a will, there is the potential for legal dispute as relatives fight over the estate". In Florida and most US states while there is typically the chance for a dispute whether or not there is a will or trust it cannot be solely because there was no will in the sense that the intestate succession law is clear it would either go one half to the children and one half to the spouse or if they were the children of both parents the first $60,000 goes to the spouse and then half and half. I do not see where it would cut down any disputes as reasons to dispute of lack of capacity, or undue influence, fraud or issues that may be asserted in a will are no present and with the change they proposed it would still not change the most likely disputed situations when there are spouses who are not the surving childrens parents.

It is interesting to note however that they had a poll which showed that 75% of the time people who had a first marriage situation wanted there property to go to the spouse then to the children. When estate tax is not an issue I have found that to be typically the case as well that the parent wants it to go first to the spouse then to her kids and which is why Florida makes the distinction in the amount that the spouse gets depending on whether there are kids from someone other than the surviving spouse or not.  

Likewise their poll showed just 30% percent want all to spouse if there are kids from a prior marriage. Those numbers sound consistent with numbers I have dealt with practicing in both Florida and Illinois.

It is a good idea to have the Intestate succession laws reflect the likely intent of the testator.

An additional issue mentioned in the article was that 45% of people in the survey did not have wills. For clients that I deal with as an estate planning attorney will all have documents in place and almost always avoid probate although from clients in general throughout the US it would be interesting to hear the latest stats the last I had read the ABA at one point had done a survey which showed nationally well above half of adults did not have a will.

James Brown Trusts and Estates Litigation Settled

After years of disputes and litigation regarding the terms his trusts and will contests a settlement to distribute the trust and estate assets was reached.

His charitable trust will receive 50% of the assets and help needy kids in South Carolina and Georgia.

Tomi Rae Hynie Brown was determined to be his wife which had itself been litigated since it was argued she had not been properly divorced from her prior husband so it was argued that the marriage with James Brown should have been invalid. She however received 25% share along with her son James Brown II who was a minor and there had been questions of whether that had even truly been James Brown son. Neither one had been provided for in prior wills and trusts which they contested and were disputing in the litigation. They had rights as pretermitted heirs since the marriage was after the will and so was the birth of the child. This would allow them to receive their intestate share. Even if the will had not provided for her and was done after the marriage she would have rights to his property as an elective share unless there had been a prenup she would have elective share rights as a spouse.

James Browns 6 adult children split the remaining 25%.

The estate reportedly has limited assets currently though and had held an auction which raised $850,000 in order to help pay debt of the trusts and estates.

There have been reports of breach of fiduciary duty by the trustees who reportedly have not given full accountings and are said to have mismanged the trust assets. They did not approve of the settlement and are appealing. 

His wife and her attorney mentioned that the family and charity were happy to move forward after the trust litigation battles of the past few years and just wanted to work together to continue to enhance his image. The image of the godfather of soul will likely be the most significant estate asset. The estate of his friend Elvis Presley for example earned $52 million last year despite his death decades ago. By contrast even some of the biggest celebrities who are alive and actively earning such as Justin Timberlake and Madonna made ten or more million less according to the annual list of top earning deceased celebrities in Forbes.  

This trust and estate settlement proposal had been worked out months ago and submitted to the probate  court for approval although the probate judge in South Carolina overseeing the case finally reviewed and approved it. Unless it is impacted by the appeal of the trustees all the litigation concerning the trust and estate can finally be put to rest. In this case as with some other large celebrity cases there had been numerous lawsuits which needed to be resolved as well as determining what the will and trust said then all the parties agreeing to settle the disputes.

As James Brown liked to say and those who have finally been able to settle the trust and estate litigation disputes that had been in probate court would likely have said "It feels good".

Wife of Face transplant donor discusses gift

In this Youtube video the ABC interview the wife of the transplant donor discusses the importance of helping others and the decision to allow her husbands face to be used as he had requested for the transplant.  

Potential tax increases to pay for US health care reform

The following information is taken from A. Charles Schultz  GiftLaw E Newsletter sent out May 26, 2009.

The potential tax increases to pay for healthcare reform may include the following:

1. Employer Health Care Exclusion -- The exclusion could be capped or phased-out for higher-income employees. For higher-income persons, part of their medical premium will be taxable, even though paid by the employer.

2. Income Tax Deduction -- The 7.5% floor could be raised to a substantially higher level and reduce the value of the deduction.

3. HSAs and FSAs -- The health savings account (HSA) or flexible spending arrangement (FSA) could have reduced contribution limits. FSA fund distributions could be limited to qualified itemized medical deductions.

4. Medicare -- All state and local employees may be required to participate.

5. Alcohol Tax - An increased and uniform national tax may apply to alcohol.

6. Soft Drink Tax -- A new tax may be levied on sugar-enhanced beverages.

7. Top Brackets Increase -- The current top 35% and 33% brackets may rise to 39.6 % and 36%.

8. Itemized Deduction Limits -- Higher income individuals may have a 3% floor on deductions and would also lose their personal exemptions.

9. Capital Gains Tax Increase -- The 15% capital gains tax rate may be increased to 20%.

10. Estate Tax -- Retained with $3.5 million exemption and 45% rate.

11. Estate Tax Discounts -- Valuation discounts reduced or eliminated.

12. Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts -- GRATs limited to ten years or longer.

California Same Sex Marriage Ban Upheld

As the AP report on CNN mentioned the California Supreme Court upheld the ban on same sex marriage but also provided that the 18,000 marriages which happened prior to the ban remain legal.

Florida law has an unusual adoption statute in that it allows that anyone a child or an adult may be adopted. However, Florida statute 63.042(3) says that No person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a homosexual. That was likely intended at least in part to avoid people from seeking to create an informal backdoor to same sex marriage family rights since same sex marriage is not legal in Florida.  

Wizzard of OZ munchkin died now abuse of Power of Attorney claim

As Mike Owens of KSDK channel 5 in St Louis reports  one of the last surviving munchkins from the movie the Wizzard of OZ recently passed away at 89. The family has asked for accounting of his assets and accused the caretaker of obtaining a Power of Attorney when he lacked mental capacity to have given it, kept him from his family continually changing the phone numbers as soon as they reached him and improperly taking assets of which they believe there was a $1 million. The caretaker denies that there was any wrongdoing. It is being investigated by the state and is an issue before the Probate Judge currently.

Here is a video of the above abuse of power of attorney claim.  

Although this situation is not a Florida matter the Florida statute on Power of Attorneys is here. Florida law requires that a person have mental capacity when executing a Power of Attorney as likely every state would and that the agent for the power of attorney act in the best interest of the principle and not there own best interest. Sadly based on articles I read and phone calls I receive abuse of power of attorneys happens too frequently with the agent of the power of attorney breaching their fiduciary duty.