Florida Probate Attorney and Florida Inheritance Lawyer Florida Probate Attorney Blog

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".

Probate and Trust Litigation Anna Nicole Smith

On Thursday November 17 "Primetime Live" the ABC news show discussed the Anna Nicole Smith Probate and Trust Litigation case, her relationship with her husband who was 63 years older than her (89 and 26) and showed some of the video from the court cases that have spanned from Texas to California bankruptcy court, probate court and federal court.

Two of the aspects of the show that were particularly of interest were first that that J. Howard Marshall was not just an oilman who happened to get lucky and make billions of dollars but that he had been an attorney and not merely an attorney but a trusts and estates attorney as well as a professor. In fact he taught trusts and estates at Yale law school. With that being mentioned it is reasonable to assume that if he wanted to provide for her his documents would have done so. Although that further raises the question of the conflict in his failing to follow up with a post nuptial agreement or having done a prenuptial before they were married in order to avoid her right to an elective share and community property from the time they were married which she presumably has the right to in Texas. In Florida there is no community property but is an elective share that a surviving spouse would be entitled to.

Second was a video in which he had clearly said what he would like Anna Nicole to have. She seemed to be pushing him to express his intentions and he does so clearly and with no apparent problems in his capacity but far from the alleged one half of everything he owns he merely provides for a home, a car and the gifts he has previously given her. During his lifetime he gave her gifts of around $6-$7 million dollars and they were married for just 14 months. Click here or the video link above to hear the video about the case and his intentions regarding what he would leave her. His will and trust which Anna has challenged with a decade of litigation in probate court essentially left the same thing which she heard him intend to leave at the time he prepared the home video.

The Supreme Court will next be deciding whether a federal judge has jurisdiction in a probate matter.

An interesting article from back in 2000 which gives a detailed background of the case can be found here. The Supreme Court case will be Vickie Lynn Marshall (Anna Nicole's formal legal name) v. E. Pierce Marshall, (J. Howard Marshall's son who is the personal representative and trustee. The case number is 04-1544.

Rosa Parks Probate Litigation

A lawsuit filed about the Outkast song "Rosa Parks" publicly showed that Rosa Parks herself was suffering from Dementia and required a guardian. At the time their was litigation regarding who should serve as the guardian. Now that she has passed the litigation has resumed in a probate litigation context and likely a trust dispute.

A Nephew Cited failing health and undue Influence to challenge the will and seek to be named as the Personal Representative. 

The link to Article from the Detroit Free Press on November 16 setting out who the participants in the litigation are and the background of the case is here. An Article the next day from the Detroit News Online indicated an estate settlement was possible.

It also raises two interesting issue by stating: By law, Parks' relatives could stand to lose whatever she intended for them if they unsuccessfully  challenged her living trust. That's because such documents can include specific instructions to exclude beneficiaries if they contest the trust.

First being that Michigan must have a law which allows no contest provisions. In Florida a no contest provision is unenforceable by statute so an individual can challenge or dispute with will and trust litigation and not risk losing any property they are left. This is a matter of public policy which the legislature of Florida clearly has a different view than Michigan and could have a significant impact for the beneficiaries in this and other estates.

Also while most of the articles and coverage has been about a will contest and who is named the Personal Representative those issues may be of significantly less importance given that Ms Parks has a trust. Depending on how her property interests both tangible property and use of her name and likeness and any other property she may have owned or had a right to were titled it may be of little consequence who Personal Representative is if all her assets were properly titled in her name to avoid probate and she was determined to have had capacity and not been impacted by undue influence in the preparation of the trust. Given that all the will said is everything passes to the trust presumably the contest or litigation should be over who serves as the trustee of the trust given that is how the assets will pass or be controlled for the future. As the article also states this is not merely about the money but how her name and likeness will be used in the future. The person who is the trustee or has the rights to make those decisions will have a significant impact on how she is remembered.

An interesting audio tape in which she recounts what happened to make her famous and another recent song written to have others thank her can be heard by clicking on the link here.