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.