Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Sonny Bono, Amy Whitehouse, Barry White, Tupac Shakur, Prince, Michael Jackson — the King of Pop, James Brown — the King of Soul — and Aretha Franklin — the Queen of Soul. It’s not a list of Rock and Hall of Fame inductees; it’s a list of music royalty who died without making a will.
In legalese they died intestate. In practical terms, they died without making provisions as to who would get their money. Which means the courts, based on the laws of descent and distribution, will decide. While that sounds easy, the result is that lawyers for all sides will get a large chunk of the money that would have gone to the descendants of these famous stars. But more importantly, family feuds and hard feelings only escalate over probate court battles and seldom heal. They often go on for generations.
Contemporary musicians are not the only ones to die without a will. There were four Presidents — three of whom were lawyers — who did the same thing: Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, James A. Garfield and Ulysses S. Grant. Perhaps we can give Lincoln and Garfield the benefit of the doubt. They were both relatively young men who were assassinated — they didn’t expect to die. But there’s little excuse for Grant who knew he had cancer and finished his memoirs literally on his death bed to provide an income for his family.
Other famous people who died without a will were Martin Luther King, Jr. and artist Pablo Picasso who died in 1973 at age 91 leaving an estate valued at $30 million dollars, which in today’s dollars would be over $170 million dollars. After years in court, his estate was split between his six heirs.
So what’s the big deal? In the case of Aretha Franklin, the big deal is an estimated $80 million-dollar estate and future royalties in the hundreds of millions of dollars for her recordings, music and use of her image. As a divorced mother of four, the question of who will eventually inherit will not be that complicated — it will be divided among her four sons. But the question of who will administer the estate — which could go on for years — is already in dispute. About the time her body arrived at the undertakers, a niece jumped ahead of the sons to apply to be the administrator of the estate. There is no doubt that the sons are lawyering up even as they prepare for the funeral.
Sadly, Aretha had battled pancreatic cancer for several years. News reports reveal that she was urged by her managers and business associates to make a will, but she refused.
When you make a will an executor is named to handle the estate, and their powers are defined, in the will and by law. They can step in immediately after the will is probated to handle the personal and financial affairs of the deceased. When there is a court battle over who will administer the estate, the financial affairs of the deceased are in limbo until a court decides who that person will be. In highly disputed cases the court often ends up appointing a neutral third party — all of which takes time and money. In the meantime, all aspects of the dispute are debated in open court — fodder for tabloids in the case of high profile celebrities.
For women it’s easy to determine who her children are. But take the case of James Brown. He left at least nine children, three ex-wives and a woman who may or may not have been his wife at the time of his death and another child that she claimed to be his. His $100 million-dollar estate dwindled substantially over the five-year court battle. Experts cite Brown’s estate as a classic example of poor estate planning.
When Prince died in 2016, questions immediately arose as to who the heirs were. People came out of the woodwork claiming to be his children and siblings and with an estate of $383 million-dollars, who can blame them. His sex life and claims of a love child became a matter of public discussion and probably increased the sales of tabloids as fans were eager to gobble up the seedier sides of their idol’s affairs. When it was determined he had no children, the romantic involvements of his mother and father became the topic of public debate as a court had to determine who were the legitimate brothers and sisters.
The estate of 1950s teenage rock artist Frankie Lymon, famous for his hit “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” engaged in a court battle that lasted for several years to determine which of three women was in fact his wife. All of this could have been avoided had these folks made a will and engaged in proper estate planning.
So here’s the deal. If you don’t make a will the state where you live — and that can be an issue with people who have multiple homes — makes a will for you. It’s called the statue of descent and distribution and provides the way a probate court will determine who gets your stuff when you die.
Ohio is like most states. If you have a spouse and no children, your spouse gets everything — after the bills are paid. If you have children, they will share with the spouse. And by the way, you can’t completely cut your spouse out in Ohio. If you die without a spouse, your children inherit. If you have no spouse and no children, it goes to your parents. If your parents are deceased, the court figures out who is next of kin which could be brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews or cousins. If they can’t find any relatives your assets go to the State of Ohio.
Unfortunately, some people have the archaic idea that if they make a will they are going to die. Well, the truth is, everyone is going to die at some point. With that fact in mind, everyone, no matter how meager they think their assets should make a will.
If you have no money, there’s always the chance that you hit the lottery right before your death or after your death it could be determined that you were a long-lost relative of one of these famous stars. Wouldn’t you rather have that money go to who you think it should go to rather than some deadbeat relative that didn’t even come to your funeral?
Making a will is simple and it won’t cost you a lot of money. Call a lawyer. Call the local bar association if you don’t have a lawyer. Go to a store that sells legal forms and get a simple will form or go online to get a will kit and make your own. You’ll make life a lot simpler and cheaper for your relatives and you can decide who gets your assets not the State of Ohio.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and treasurer of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.