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Taxation & Estate Planning

: Death and Taxes Blog

Michael Jackson's Estate, Part 2: Wanna Be Starting Something?

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

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This blog may morph (just like the "Black or White" video!) into the Michael Jackson's Estate Blog in the coming months (or years). The latest: there appears to be a 2002 Will, according to this WSJ article.

Usually a Will starts out by stating that the person signing it hereby revokes all prior Wills, so the last valid Will is the one that is used in probate. If people are unhappy with the 2002 Will, then they'll seek to have it found invalid (or try to locate a more recent one).

The executor situation in the 2002 Will:

This will names as executors lawyer John Branca and a veteran music executive named John McClain who was also a friend of Mr. Jackson. Mr. Branca, who served as Mr. Jackson's primary attorney between 1980 and 2006, wrote the will. Mr. Jackson had rehired Mr. Branca the week before his death last Thursday.

Is it OK for an attorney who drafts a Will to also be named as executor under the Will? My answer is yes, as long as the attorney explains to the testator the ramifications of that decision. (I send out a long letter explaining all the reasons the client might NOT want me to act, and then have the client sign the letter.) My concern here is that Mr. Branca had to know, when he drafted the 2002 Will, that Mr. Jackson's estate was going to be a huge mess. What are the potential fees for an individual acting as executor of an estate and (presumably) as attorney for himself as executor, in an estate like Mr. Jackson's? I don't know -- $5 million? $10 million? More?

Another concern: Mr. Branca does not appear (from his website) to be an estate planning or probate attorney. Did he in fact draft the Will? Hopefully not -- hopefully it was drafted by someone at his firm with knowledge of estate planning and probate issues. We all remember what happened in the Anna Nicole Smith case.

According to this LA Times article, Mr. Jackson's family is already hinting that the 2002 Will is not valid.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on June 30, 2009 (boomark / email).