Taxation & Estate Planning

Thoughts on Michael Jackson's Estate

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

For many people from my generation (I was 12 when the album Thriller was released), the death of Michael Jackson is a pretty big deal. My family has always listened to a lot of his music, from the Jackson 5 days through his solo career. (Five favorites: "I Want You Back," "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Scream," "PYT," and "Human Nature.")

As this morning's New York Times makes clear, we're also going to be hearing a lot about Mr. Jackson's estate. Because -- as you might expect -- his affairs are very complicated. (Harkening back to this post, I'm invoking the James Brown Rule: messy life, messy estate.) Here is a link to the NYT article, by Tim Arango and Ben Sisario. More specific questions:

1. Will the estate be solvent? Mr. Jackson had lots of assets (and I would anticipate that his death will cause a huge increase in income -- everyone I know is downloading his songs from iTunes like mad right now). But he also had lots of debts.

2. What happens to his children? (See this article)

3. Did Mr. Jackson have a Will?

[Alvin] Malnik [an advisor and godfather to Mr. Jackson's children], for example, said that in 2004 he agreed to be the executor of Mr. Jackson?s estate. ?I said yes, but I never inquired further, and I don?t know what?s happened since then,? he said. Mr. Malnik said there was still a chance that he was an executor, but had not heard anything since the death. Other advisers said that Mr. Jackson left behind at least two wills.

Mr. Jackson may have also established one or more trusts, which may be harder for creditors to reach.

One other note: I think the saddest thing about the last years of Mr. Jackson's life is that he appeared to be mentally ill. (This is the main subject of Margo Jefferson's book On Michael Jackson. You can read an excerpt of that book here.) I wonder why no one around him did anything about this -- like seek to have a guardian appointed for him. I also wonder whether, if Mr. Jackson did have a Will or a trust, he was competent to execute those documents.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on June 27, 2009 (boomark / email).