Taxation & Estate Planning

The Author Who Played With Fire

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

Today's New York Times Magazine has an article about Stieg Larsson, whose three novels (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest) have become a literary sensation.

Mr. Larsson died in 2004, before they were published -- he was survived by his companion, Eva Gabrielsson, with whom he lived for over 30 years. So who reaps the benefit of his posthumous success?

Larsson died without a will. Like a great many Swedish couples, he and Gabrielsson never married... and they had no children.... Larsson's father and younger brother... got everything.

There are a lot of bad feelings between Ms. Gabrielsson and Larsson's father and brother, which may or may not be about money or literature or both (or other things).

Interestingly enough, Mr. Larsson did leave a document regarding his wishes, in the form of "a letter Stieg wrote before leaving for Africa in 1977 [before he met Ms. Gabrielsson] and sealed in an envelope marked: 'Contains my will. Do not open before I die.' This document was never witnessed and has no legal validity, which is probably just as well, because it leaves everything to the Socialist Party in Umea." Mr. Larsson's brother says he urged him to make a Will, and notes that "[h]e had 25 years to change [the above document]."

The message should be clear: put your wishes in writing.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on May 24, 2010 (boomark / email).