Families Of Deceased Celebrities Have Wealth Wars Too

Rich celebrities---who one might assume would have sophisticated, ironclad estate planning documents in place to avoid estate disputes and facilitate post-death transfers of assets to their desired beneficiaries---are not immune from wealth wars.  Rather, even the families of famous musicians, actors, etc. occasionally engage in years-long battles over their deceased loved one’s money and property.  For example, below are 8 randomly-selected celebrity inheritance disputes:

1.  Prince:  The purple-loving musician died without a will in 2016, leaving 6 half-siblings but no spouse or living children.  A 6-year long legal battle, apparently with thousands of Court filings, resulted among his heirs (ultimately settling) over his $156 million estate because they could not agree how to manage the estate moving forward.

2.  Stan Lee:  After the Marvel Comic Books co-creator's death in 2018, his daughter J.C. Lee and other parties engaged in a 4-year battle over his estate, worth around $50 million.  She was accused of intellectual property theft and elder abuse, while Stan’s former business partners were accused of exploiting him for financial gain.

3.  Aretha Franklin:  After the legendary singer's death in 2018, she left an estate estimated to be worth about $80 million.  In the months that followed her death, numerous wills were discovered---some of them handwritten, some of them found under couch cushions, and all of them contradictory in parts---which resulted in confusion and years of litigation over who her intended beneficiaries really were. 

4.  James Brown:  The iconic singer's estate was involved in a 15-year long legal battle after his death in 2006.  He left a will naming numerous beneficiaries---including children, grandchildren, and charities---but various other claims were made by other alleged children and relatives leading to multiple lawsuits that were ultimately resolved in 2021.

5.  Whitney Houston:  After the acclaimed singer's death in 2012, her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, inherited her estate and was her sole beneficiary according to a 1993 will.  However, Bobbi Kristina died in 2015, just 3 years after Whitney, resulting in a legal dispute among multiple people scrambling over who would inherit the assets:  Bobbi Kristina’s father (bad boy Bobby Brown); her maternal grandmother, Cissy Houston; Whitney’s brothers; and even Bobbi Kristina’s boyfriend at the time, Nick Gordon (later found civilly liable for her death in 2016, and in turn he later died of a drug overdose in 2020).

6.  Michael Jackson:  After the singer's untimely death in 2009, his estate became involved in multiple legal battles, including disputes between his family and the estate's executors over control of his assets (estimated to be hundreds of millions of dollars at a minimum) and a lawsuit filed by Quincy Jones for unpaid producer royalties.  His mother and 3 children were the beneficiaries of his estate, and the primary dispute was one in which his will was alleged to be fraudulent and not properly executed, claims ultimately rejected by the Courts.

7.  Robin Williams:  Following the actor's 2014 death from suicide, his widowed 3rd wife and his children from previous marriages were involved in a legal dispute over the interpretation of his estate planning documents.  The case ultimately settled, with both sides accusing the other of “greed,” and is a Hollywood example of one of the most common scenarios in estate and trust litigation, i.e., the children of the deceased locking horns with a subsequent spouse of the deceased. 

8.  Philip Seymour Hoffman:  After the actor's death in 2014 from a drug overdose, his estate was embroiled in legal battles involving will contests and disputes over the rights of his estate.  While understandably not wanting to leave behind “trust fund kids” without incentive to work, he left a will naming his girlfriend as sole beneficiary of his estate, trusting that she would purportedly provide for his children.  He also failed to have sound estate planning in place, subjecting his assets to millions of dollars of otherwise avoidable taxes.

Matt House can be contacted by telephone at 501-372-6555, by e-mail at mhouse@jamesandhouse.com, by facsimile at 501-372-6333, or by regular mail at James, House, Swann & Downing, P.A., Post Office Box 3585, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203.