This is another installment in our very occasional series on estate planning lessons learned from celebrities. The actress Nichelle Nichols, 85, who is most famous for portraying Lieutenant Uhura on the original “Star Trek,” is currently the subject of a conservatorship battle pending in Los Angeles Superior Court. Ms. Nichols’ son, Kyle Johnson, filed the petition for conservatorship in May…
What happens if you die without an estate plan?
If you’re the late rock star Prince, you lose half of your estate to state and federal estate taxes. It appears the government will be dancing to Prince’s “1999” all the way to the bank.According to news reports, when Prince died in April of 2016, he had no will and no other estate plan in place. As a result, almost $100 million of his estimated $200 million estate could wind up in the hands of the tax man.
A carefully crafted estate plan may have avoided the multi-million dollar battle over Michael Jackson’s estate currently taking place in the U.S. Tax Court. By disposing of his assets primarily by Will, his estate has been subjected to a myriad of red tape as well as the scrutiny of the Internal Revenue Service. Maybe, as his attorneys have argued, his…