From the category archives:

Estate Planning

Michigan Bar Journal Review of Trial & Heirs

June 8, 2010

The State Bar of Michigan’s montly journal has recently reviewed our book, Trial & Heirs:  Famous Fortune Fights!.  Here are some of the highlights:

After reading Trial & Heirs, I am convinced that I need an estate plan. It’s time to get serious about, you know, death.  Danielle and Andrew Mayoras, Michigan estate-planning attorneys who are married [...]

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Michael Jackson living trust revealed

June 3, 2010

With so much exposure and scrutiny on everything that’s happened to Michael Jackson’s estate since he died, it should probably come as no surprise that his living trust has been leaked to the media and made public.  Wills are public documents and available for everyone to read (once they are filed with the probate court [...]

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The Elvis Presley Conspiracy (Part IV): What does it all mean?

May 21, 2010

Many people have contacted me wondering about the final installment in The Probate Lawyer Blog’s coverage of Eliza Presley and her efforts to prove she’s telling the truth about The Elvis Presley Conspiracy.  Here are the prior installments to refresh your memory.  I promised I would share my personal thoughts about Eliza’s DNA and other evidence.
Now [...]

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New allegations of abuse filed in Melvin Simon estate fight

May 18, 2010

Melvin Simon was one of the richest men in the Midwest until he died last year, at age 82.  A co-owner of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, he built most of his fortune developing and owning shopping malls.  His assets have been estimated to be worth close to $2 billion.  That vast fortune is tied up in a nasty [...]

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Magazine Article: Lessons of Famously Bad Estate Planning

May 10, 2010

The May 2010 issue of Insurance News Net Magazine, written for insurance and other financial professionals, has a great feature on how lessons drawn from famous estate screw-ups can help promote proper estate planning.  (Gee, that sounds familiar.)
Co-author of Trial & Heirs:  Famous Fortune Fights!, Danielle Mayoras, was quoted extensively in the article, and several [...]

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Widow of England millionaire in an interesting estate fight

May 3, 2010

Battles over the assets of those who have passed are far too common, for millionaires and non-millionaires alike.  Usually they involve whether someone was competent when a will or trust change was made, whether a joint bank account owner was supposed to share with the rest of the family, who gets the wedding ring, or [...]

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Detroit Free Press article on celebrity estate fights

April 28, 2010

This past Sunday’s Detroit Free Press featured an article, written by business columnist Susan Tompor, about “Trial & Heirs:  Famous Fortune Fights!” and how families can learn from celebrity estate fights.  Here’s part of it:

What can you learn about estate planning from TMZ.com, the celebrity gossip site? 

Plenty. Errors involving celebrity estates can motivate everyday families [...]

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Did insurance fraud led to murder of an elderly woman?

April 25, 2010

The Stephen Hilbert family is well known in Indiana.  Hilbert founded insurance giant Conseco, which he ran until he was forced out because he owed the company hundreds of millions of dollars.  When the company sued Hilbert to collect the giant debt, he tried to hide behind a series of trusts to shelter his fortune.  Our [...]

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NY Times has interesting feature about Mark Twain’s will

April 23, 2010

Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain.  The New York Times commemorated his passing with an interesting article about his final wishes.  The reporter dug up a copy of his handwritten will from the dusty archives of the probate court in Redding, Connecticut, which Twain called [...]

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The crazy claims of the Michael Jackson Estate

April 19, 2010

Given MJ’s eccentricities in life, and the craziness that has surrounded his estate since he died, it is no surprise that Michael Jackson’s estate executors are busy denying wild claims left and right. 
TMZ has a list of the wackiest ones:

Jose Freddie Vallejos asked for $3.3 million to reimburse Los Angeles for the costs [...]

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