The other night, I was channel surfing and started watching a documentary on Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors. He died at the age of 27 in a Paris hotel room. No autopsy was performed. Morrison struggled with alcohol abuse. Many accounts noted he was snorting heroin close to the time of his death. While he made a number of choices that hindered longevity, he did have a will.
The will stated his entire estate would pass to his girlfriend Pamela Courson, provided she survived him by 3 months. If she didn’t, his estate would pass to his brother and sister.
Morrison’s girlfriend passed that test. But, she died, not long after – presumably from an overdose, in 1974.
Courson had no will. When she died, all of Morrison’s estate passed to her parents. Nothing went to Morrison’s brother or sister; nor Morrison’s parents. When Morrison died, his estate was worth ~$400,000; a large sum in 1971. But, because Courson (and Morrison) died childless, control of his 25% stake in the Doors’ record sales and copyrights became contentious. Over the past 40 years, this sum has been substantial.
The estate transferred to Courson’s parents. Morrison’s parents sued and received an ongoing stake in his legacy to ensure “parity.” Pamela Courson’s father assumed the role of “artistic executor” of the estate.
Morrison’s mother and father died in the past decade. They likely bequeathed their share in the Doors to their surviving kids, which would mean the brother and sister are finally back where Jim intended.
The question Morrison’s lawyer never asked was what Jim Morrison wanted if his girlfriend died. The Lizard King’s documents never spelled it out.
We’ve worked with thousands of doctors over the past 12 years. Having the right document in place can mean the difference between 5 years of litigation and no litigation at all., I never had a will until my wife became pregnant. I was 39 at the time. When we are young, very few of us anticipate the bad things that life can throw at us -disability, disease, and death. Our families are better served if we address these details while we are alert, vibrant, and healthy.
As a New Year’s Resolution, make sure you have a will (or better yet, a formal estate plan). Make sure you have appointed healthcare and financial powers of attorney. And fill out an advance directive. If you were diligent and had these documents prepared in the past, dust them off and make sure they reflect your current wishes.
There is no such thing as an estate plan or a will that is perfect or that will perfectly protect your estate or wishes after you are dead. That said, it is FAR worse if you die intestate. At that point, you give open invitation to the state you live in to apportion your estate according to their wishes.
Remember, all of those services are charged to YOUR estate, meaning that there are fees for everything they do. In some states the Probate Courts actually depend on those moneys to help pay their judges, investigators and guardians ad Litem personnel. You are not around to protest the fees. And if your living relatives try, they will be talking to a wall. Worse, the more they agitate to reduce probate fees, the more likelihood that they will face financial retribution in the allocations. All of this is perfectly legal. They have no standing in those courts.
This system represents the most egregious, money grubbing form of government possible. Some localities and states are absolutely rife with actual racketeering. Among them, various “services” to your estate (which you never contracted when you were living) suddenly appear on the allocation demand list. There is often no way to prove that you didn’t actually contract with a gardening service for a 10,000 dollar redo on your property.
These rackets are amazingly clever and well thought out. They can find ways to ‘create” your signature and the Courts rarely check for accuracy. It’s just a “list” of items to them. They could care less. After all, you’re dead. If your relatives try to prove otherwise, the Courts will not listen to them either.
The more “services” they perform to adjudicate your probate, the more money they make. There is no “bundling” of fees when it comes to Court probate costs. Everything is a line item and separate charge.
What can you do? Hire a good attorney and do a trust, or at least a will. (In some states like California, trusts are better for most estates with actual monetary value). Just owning your home constitutes significant value…in California.
Probate courts and adjudicators are often perpetrators of crimes against your estate. Unfortunately, those crimes are legal. It’s up to you to try to do your best to prevent it. While nothing is perfect, a well drawn estate plan/trust by an attorney can significantly reduce their ability to steal from you. Even if you over-pay your attorney, it’s still worth it.
Michael M. Rosenblatt, DPM
Strange things about Morrison….