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.

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.

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.  

1959 Astor Will Contest case estate settlement

John Eligon in Fight for Astor Estate mirors 50 years ago has written an interesting article about the prior will contest litigation from 1959. The comment in the final paragraph by attorney and friend of Brooke Astor - Louis Auchincloss said that Brooke Astor eventually settled with John Jacob Astor VI who accused Brooke of undue influence and his father of having of lacking testemenary capacity at the time the final will was executed for $250,000 because it would have cost less than the attorney fees to handle the will contest despite the fact that there were 26 different revisions of her husband Vincent Astors will none of whom mentioned John Jacob. It further came out in trial that the reason for that Brooke testified was Vincent found John Jacob Astor VI to be "the most useless member of society and despised him as a slacker".  

Interesting to note that the US Department of Labor Inflation Calculator  shows that $250,000 back around 1959 would be worth $1,831,958.76 so they felt it would cost nearly $2m to defend the estate litigation case back then.

It also brings up a couple other issues. One being that he likely would have had a difficult time prevailing since there had been 26 prior wills and since he was not mentioned in any he would have had to prove that there was undue or lack of capacity during all of them. Preparing multiple wills over a period of years can be a helpful strategy in order to minimize the chance of success of a will contest.

In this case Brooke received $2 million, nearly all of her husbands property and possessions and income from a $127 million trust fund that was part of the estate so there was plenty to settle with but surprising that his not being mentioned in any of the 26 prior wills the attorney would think the attorney fees alone would still reach nearly $2 million just to defend adjusted for inflation. Possibly she should have litigated to see that her husbands wishes were carried out.  

Another issue is having to expose dirty laundry of the family and damage that it can do to family dynamics. It is an unfortunate aspect of probate litigation and could not have helped relationships for her to have testified in court that he was considered the "most useless member of society".  Apparently unlike prior Astors with his name he was not a productive business person but was someone who constantly partied and got the family name in the tabloids as a result. Sadly this is why many wealthy families do not remain as wealthy over time as future generations can become lazy and a sense of entitlement if the proper estate planning and life values are not put in place and passed down to subsequent generations.  

James Brown Will Contest and Trust and Estate Litigation

James Brown died Christmas day 2006 and has been generating a significant amount of estate and trust litigation in probate courts ever since.

Fiduciary misconduct and breach of trust back in 2007 in which a trustee accused of improperly taking trust funds for over $350,000 and putting in their account just three days after the passing of the singer. He resigned and paid the funds back after attorneys representing the children and grandchildren petitioned the court and sought his removal and other advisors.   

As Mary Bridges mentions in her article Torturted soul there were 21 trust and estate litigation attorneys who claimed to be lead counsel when judge wanted to see just lead counsel in chambers.

The total amount the three advisors left in charge of the estate are aledged to have improperly taken is $14 million and the will attorney who drafted the will and trust is now serving 30 years for murdering a strip club manager.

As this article by findlaw points out it is important to update a persons will and trust upon any significant change in circumstance such as the birth of a child and a marriage.

In the estate of James Brown the singer and "godfather of soul" as the Findlaw article points out he had prepared a will 10 months before the birth of his child with his 4th wife and 12 months prior to marriage of 4th wife. He wanted to question whether it was his child after his passing and did not want to provide for the son or the wife. However most states have pre termitted spouse and children provisions. These provide that if the document were before the marriage or birth of the child they are treated as if it was an intestate estate in most circumstances. Although this was not a Florida case the Florida Pretermitted statute for children is 732.302.  

The estate was also seeking to challenge the validity of the marriage to his wife who was left nothing.

Without a prenuptial agreement she would have been entitled to an Elective Share in most states including Florida if the case had jurisdiction here.

As the Wealth Bulletin points out James Brown trust estate worth $100 million  and is being sued by a former publicist who questioned whether a proper formal trust was actually setup and that they should have the authority to distribute to the needy people for charitable purposes as they saw fit instead of having 47.5% passing through a charitable trust and other advisors distributing it. She claimed she was reponsible for setting it up and was it was just the two of them so she should now have control. It contained the rights to famous songs such as I feel good which Brown had recorded. She sued in Chicago.

This is in addition to five of six children named in the will suing arguing undue influence of former advisors who were in a confidential relationship with him and coerced him into taking actions to benefit them by creating the charitable trusts.

Details of a proposed estate settlement have emerged with the five children possibly getting 25% with the 4th wife and the child she supposedly had with him receiving 25% and the remaining 50% going to his trust.  

The estate and trust do not even have many remaining assets but with the song rights at stake and ability to earn after death the trust and estate litigation continues. Forbes has reported Kurt Cobain and Elvis Pressley for example made $40-50 million a year each in 2006.

It will be interesting to see the final result of all the trust and estate litigation to see what the final results of all the many lawsuits, disputes and litigation in probate court turn out and the various settlements that may be reached.

Estate Settlement in open court is public record

As Cincinatti.com reported Ohio judge Steve Martin ruled that where there is no formal request to seal a court record and the proper procedures seeking to close the file are not pursued an estate settlement is a matter of public record despite the desire of both sides to make it a private matter. 

There was an estate litigation going on regarding a $300+ million estate which both sides sought to only speak to one another and the judge and settled prior to a trial in order to avoid publicity then stopped speaking when others had walked in the room but conducted the estate settlement hearings in open court and never formally requested it be sealed so when a local publication requested it be made of public information and available the judge allowed and determined it not to even be a close call.

Lesson learned do not speak in open court without formally requesting and being informed that the estate settlement would be a private matter. The judge presiding over the estate case is allowing until Tuesday for the estate litigation attorneys to appeal his ruling otherwise a transcript of exactly what was said.

For more info about the case and a link to the article click on the link below.

Estate Settlement is public

 

Estate Litigation of Estate of Litigation Attorney Edward Masry

More than $40 million could be at stake in a newly filed lawsuit over the estate of famed litigator and former City Councilman Edward Masry.

Masry died Dec. 5 after a long illness. His litigation law firm, Masry & Vititoe, represented plaintiffs in the environmental litigation made famous in the film “Erin Brockovich.”

Now, the spoils of lawsuits settled by Masry are themselves the subject of a civil action. The full article from the Pacific Coast Business Times can be found here.

Since Attorney Masry has a daughter who is also an attorney his estate can distribute his ownership in such firm to her if desired in his will or other estate planning documents otherwise a non attorney cannot own an ongoing share of a law firm. 

On April 21, two of Masry’s children filed a lawsuit seeking to force James Vititoe, his former partner, to account for his share of ownership in the firm of Masry & Vititoe, which the plaintiffs said in the filing could be more than $40 million. The two children want Vititoe to expedite a transfer of Masry’s interest to his daughter, also an attorney employed by the firm.

The lawsuit states that the defendants were unwilling to recognize the younger Masrys as beneficiaries of Masry’s estate, despite a Nov. 23, 2005 change to Masry’s will. This created a will dispute with the attorney for the daughters hoping they will not need to fight a will contest and defend against a will challenge in the estate case. That changed revoked all interest from Joette Masry—Ed’s second wife—and named the two children as trustees. The childrens litigation attorneys were optimistic they could just get the accounting and resolve the estate dispute without having to proceed with an extended estate litigation with the attorneys having to fight over a will contest and accounting issues. 

His former law partner, James Vititoe did not return calls for comment and his office directed all calls to him. The firm received a $40 million dollars in attorney fees in the litigation against Pacific Gas and Electric of which the movie Erin Brockovich was based.

The $40 million figure from the civil lawsuit was merely what may be owed upon getting the accounting.

Having buy-sell agreements or agreeing as to the manner in which an accounting will be done to set a value. Also not making will changes shortly before death when there may be undue influence or diminished capacity and disputes among interested parties is a helpful way to avoid probate litigation and successfully pass on the property. Also business interests can be held in a trust to avoid probate with another attorney daughter she could take direct ownership of his portion of the firm not merely the profits thereof.