My friend, and fellow Personal Family Lawyer, Candice Aiston has posted a great article regarding the guardianship issues raised by Michael Jackson’s early death.
Here are the first two paragraphs and I urge you to visit her site and read the rest. Well-written and very informative:
Like many people my age, I am a HUGE fan of “early” Michael Jackson. Loved him pre-surgery, during the disco and Thriller eras. It was sad to watch such a talented individual become a self-hating recluse. It was sad to see him on trial for sexual molestation of a young boy, and I can only hope that he didn’t really do it. He was acquitted, in any event. It kind of made me sad to see how oddly it seemed he was behaving with regard to his kids – contracts with the birth mother, veiled faces, a baby dangled over a balcony…remember the weirdness?
Now everyone is talking about how much money he left behind and how complicated his estate will be, what with all of his credit and debt issues and split ownership of certain rights to music. There’s a lot of talk about how it could take years to settle his estate. I guess that mostly depends on the type of estate planning he’s done, and we’ll find out all about it soon enough.
But what about the kids?
Here is the link to the entire post.
It’s been less than 24 hours since Michael Jackson’s death, and already there have been articles posted on the Internet about the singer’s estate plan.
MSNBC posted this article, concluding that the singer’s estate would not be settled without controversy.
I feel passionately enough about what I do for a living to take advantage of this emotional time to remind people how important it is to do estate planning NOW. Every time there is a celebrity death, especially when it comes as suddenly as Michael Jackson’s came, people on the news reflect how uncertain life is. And, we remind each other how little time we actually have.
In the end, what we pass on from generation-to-generation is not about money and finances that we leave behind. True, comprehensive estate planning is about capturing and transitioning your entire wealth. This includes non-financial assets, such as a your intellectual, spiritual, and emotional assets.
If it turns out that no complete estate plan was in place for Michael Jackson, the loved ones that he’s left behind will be rudderless and shortchanged because of a failure to preplan.
I honestly believe that I have an obligation, a moral obligation, to help people get their lives in order. The sense of accomplishment and peace of mind that happens when a comprehensive plan is in place is very valuable to my clients.
So, I’m going to remind people visiting the website, that you can sign up for a free report on the six mistakes to avoid when selecting an estate planning attorney. There it is a gift in that report that should help you move past procrastination towards the state where your affairs are in order, your mind is at rest with the knowledge that you have left guidance for your loved ones in case the unthinkable happens.
The Time is Now.
Posted by Victor J. Medina
Medina, Martinez & Castroll
