For the Love of Your Family
For the Love of Your Family
The untimely death of superstar Prince has brought a surprising issue to American living rooms: estate planning. If current reports are correct that Prince died without a will, state law and the Court system will dictate who controls and inherits his sizeable estate. It is also likely that taxing entities will take a bigger bite […]
Read MoreWhen I heard that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, were donating 99 percent of their Facebook shares — currently worth more than $45 billion — to charity, I immediately assumed they had been the beneficiaries of smart family wealth planning advice and would be funding a private foundation that could be used to save money on […]
Read MoreThe shock over the death of 47-year-old SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, husband of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and the father of two small children, continues to resonate for many reasons. First, he was so young, how could this happen? Second, they are so rich, how could this happen? Money, youth and success are no deterrents […]
Read MoreThere is much to be learned from the mistakes of others and the celebrity world abounds with cautionary tales when it comes to estate planning. Even with all the financial resources available to them, celebrities can neglect the basics when it comes to protecting assets. We come across sad tales all the time of “regular” […]
Read MoreA drama currently playing out in a French courtroom demonstrates that any elderly person can fall victim to financial abuse, even the second wealthiest woman in the world. Lilliane Bettencourt, 92, is heiress to the L’Oreal cosmetics fortune, and Forbes has estimated her worth at $40 billion. According to a recent New York Times story, […]
Read MoreRobin Williams’ wife Susan has gone to court over personal items she says were taken from the couple’s Tiburon, California, home without her permission. Williams’ children say their father set up a trust that bequeathed the items to them and that his wife of three years is acting against his wishes. Could this have been […]
Read MoreJames Brown was known for his signature song, “I Feel Good,” but no one is feeling good about the battle that is still being waged over his estate almost a decade after his death in 2006. The majority of Brown’s estate – estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars – was distributed […]
Read MoreThe film “Black Heirlooms” has not received any Oscar nominations. It was made by 32-year-old Amanda Brown, whose grandmother’s long-term illness ripped her once close-knit family apart for lack of long-term care planning. Profiled recently in the New York Times, the film is “about the extended uncomfortable, intergenerational conversations that we do not have enough […]
Read MoreFamous comedienne, Joan Rivers, who died unexpectedly on September 4, 2014, from what is alleged to be a botched medical procedure, made millions making us all laugh. Some of her most infamous routines centered around skewering celebrities, most notably legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor. For Rivers’ comedy, everyone and everything was fair game for exposure. But […]
Read MoreLegendary Hollywood actress Lauren Bacall died on August 12, 2014, leaving behind an estate estimated at $26.6 million and three children who face a couple of potentially serious problems that could have been avoided through effective estate planning. Bacall, who was married to Humphrey Bogart and Sam Robards, passed away in her New York City […]
Read MoreOne of the most eloquent responses to Robin Williams’ death came from his best friend Billy Crystal, who posted on Twitter simply: “No words.” When someone close to us dies — especially in a sudden and tragic way — the grief is so deep that we truly don’t have any words to describe it. And […]
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