OK, so technically this is not New York-specific legal news, but I found it interesting nonetheless (and I trust you do too!). Although the vast majority of people read stories about deceased celebrities’ estates – and the inevitably warring groups of heirs – with a voyeuristic interest and think “well, I don’t have three houses in California, so my kids/spouse will never have these problems!”, in fact, if we look below the glitzy surface of these cases, they can hold very instructive lessons for all people planning for their own families.
In the Robin Williams case, apparently a Trust was established in which his children and former wife received the bulk of the estate, while his current wife was given their marital house and “enough money to keep it up through her lifetime”. It’s been reported that the heirs dispute the value of this house, how much money is actually necessary to “maintain it” during the widow’s lifetime, and whether the contents of the marital house were intended to be kept by the widow, or part of the estate going to the children. So what can we glean from this particularly messy celebrity estate?
- Be careful what you agree to with your spouse! I presume that California, like New York, provides substantial protection for spouses (like Mr. Williams' widow), enabling the surviving spouse to claim a priority, often majority, share of the late spouse's estate. However, at least in New York, under certain conditions a spouse can waive their statutory rights in an estate when signing an agreement to that effect.
- Specificity in your estate plan is important! I always encourage people creating Wills or Trusts to be as specific as possible with regard to their intent, so that there is little room for a dispute amongst heirs after that person passes away. For example, if Robin Williams meant for his widow to have the house and every piece of personal property left in it, I would hope that the Trust was drafted to say that.
- Mediation is for more than just divorce cases. According to reports, the California court has delayed issuing a ruling on the Williams’ estate since the parties appear to be resolving much of their issues with the assistance of a mediator. Mediation can be especially helpful in situations where, while there might be a serious disagreement amongst parties, the parties to the dispute may want to (or need to) maintain a civil relationship in the future. We see the benefits of mediation often in the realm of divorces where the divorcing spouses have children together, but this type of dispute resolution could also be effective to resolve issues between neighbors, business partners, or, like here, a widow and the children of a deceased person.
- Estate planning for blended families takes extra care. When you have children from a prior marriage, a new spouse, and/or children with your new spouse, it is important to consider the financial needs and non-financial emotions of all of them when drafting your estate plan. This can be tricky, but when done correctly and with care, many of the problems we see in Robin Williams’ estate might be avoided. While a person is normally under no obligation to reveal the details of their Will or other estate plan with anyone (including heirs), in some situations, having everyone “on the same page” might be useful.
As we see repeatedly, just because a person is rich and famous, doesn’t mean that their estate planning issues are any different from those faced by us non-celebrities.
