South Florida Estate Planning Law : Florida Estate Planning Lawyer & Attorney : David Shulman Law Firm : South FL Wills & Trusts

I'll write more on this myself as it develops, but here are some articles to check out:

Smart Money: Michael Jackson's Death and Your Estate Plan

Reuters: Hello Goodbye: Jackson's Beatles rights at risk

Wall Street Journal: Getting Personal: Jackson Estate a Tangled Affair

Business Week: Settling Michael Jackson's Estate may be a Thriller.

At this point, all anyone is doing is speculating.  No one knows if he had a will or where it is.  At least no one who is talking.  There is a "rumor" going round the internet that "Michael Jackson willed his control of the Beatles songs to Paul McCartney."  That is almost certainly not true.

First, unless MJ specifically said this somewhere, how would anyone know it?

Second, the asset is highly leveraged with many secured creditors.

Finally, it's probably the most valuable thing that he owns.  Why would he do that to his children?

This is going to be fascinating from an estate planning and tax and administration perspective.  And I haven't even talked about what happens to his children yet.

Stay tuned.

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 Kudos to the Wall Street Journal for letting parents know the importance of setting up trusts for their children upon their death.  Generally, if you don't have a Will, or have one that leaves everything to your minor children outright, then upon that child reaching the age of 18 (or 21 depending on the state), the child will receive all of their money outright, without any supervision.  Also, before they reach the age of majority, a Guardianship (which can be expensive and burdensome) might be required.

One thing that I think the article does not make clear is that you do not have to set up a separate trust while you are alive.  A revocable trust is proper for some people, and others transfer money or property to an irrevocable trust for their children's benefit for estate planning or other purposes.  But for most people, the trust for your children is part of your will.  It does not come into effect until after you die (or upon the second death of you and your spouse).

For more, see Deciding if Your Kid is Trust-Worthy. 

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Although much of Estate Planning and family law is state law specific, I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in Estate Planning and Divorce to check out a recent radio interview done by Leanna Hamill, an estate planning attorney in Massachusetts.  Her blog is here, and the blog post linking to the radio episode is here. 

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