Bielski Law Office, Ltd.

What Does Your Will Say about You?

We often think the process of estate planning is mostly about finances. However, how we distribute our estates also says a lot about who we are as people and what we value.

Every will ever accepted into probate in England and Wales since 1858 is stored in a single depository. Previously, only researchers were allowed access to the contents of the depository.

Now, however, a new project to digitize the wills and put them online for all to see for a small fee allows anyone to read the wills of Britain's rich and famous.

This has allowed for a new window into what those famous people valued.

Recently, The Guardian reported on some of those famous wills in an article titled "Last Orders: What do our wills say about us?"

Some of the wills reported are:

• Princess Diana - She left a small, but not insignificant sum to her butler.  She also decreed that her brother was to look after her personal effects until her son, Prince Harry, reached the age of 30.
• A.A. Milne - The rights to Winnie the Pooh were left to four different groups, including the author's family and the Royal Literary Fund.
• George Orwell - Instructed that no biography of him should be written.
• Beatrix Potter - Declared that hunting by otter, hounds and harriers would be prohibited on her Troutbeck property.

The interesting thing about wills in the United States is that they are a matter of public record.

Accordingly, anyone can access your will.

If you would like to keep the details of your estate plan private, then contact an experienced estate planning attorney about probate avoidance planning.

One popular method is to create and “fund” a revocable living trust.

Reference: The Guardian (June 12, 2015) "Last Orders: What do our wills say about us?"

Online Will Registration

It is not always easy for descendants to locate the wills of the deceased. A new online service hopes to provide the first national solution to that problem.

Many people neglect to tell loved ones where their wills are located. Often this is out of fear that if someone knows the location of a will, they might look at it and find out its contents.

Unfortunately, this leads to a very common situation where the family of the deceased cannot find the will. This creates unnecessary probate problems.

There are several solutions to this.

You can make sure that someone with no expectations of an inheritance from you knows where your will is located and that your family knows who that person is.

An estate attorney is an excellent choice for this, by the way.

You can also let your family know the general details of your will and thus you will no longer have reason to hide its location.

However, these alternative solutions are not always satisfactory.

Other countries have solved the issue by creating national registries for wills. Until now, the United States has had no such registry.

As reported by the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog in a recent article titled "New Service to Track Location Of A Will," the new U.S. Will Registry now allows people to register their wills for free.

When the testator passes away, family members can present a death certificate and learn the location of the will.

What is your plan? This is a practical dilemma you should more than just consider.

Contact an experienced estate planning attorney for advice.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (June 22, 2015) "New Service to Track Location Of A Will,"

Debate over the Fate of Bobbi Kristina Brown

There has been much media speculation about the debate in Bobbi Kristina Brown's family over whether or not to remove her from life support. The debate has been framed as a moral and religious one, but what might really be driving it is something much simpler, her mother's money.

Whitney Houston's will did not leave her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, an inheritance in a single lump sum. Instead, Brown was to receive the inheritance in increments, which would end when she reached 30 years old. The remainder of any money would then be placed in a trust.

Now, with 22-year-old Bobbi Kristina in hospice care and not expected to recover, things get complicated.

Houston's will states that if her daughter does not live to the age of 30, then the money should be distributed to Houston's other family members. Obviously, they have a monetary reason to argue that Bobbi Kristina should be removed from life support.

On the other hand, if Bobbi Kristina lives past the age of 30, her father, Bobby Brown, would be the beneficiary of the money.

To further complicate things, Bobbi Kristina's boyfriend is claiming that the two were married. If that is true, then he would inherit any money she receives. That claim is disputed and he has not produced proof.

Billboard reported this story in a recent article titled "Whitney Houston's Fortune in Limbo Amid Bobbi Kristina Tragedy."

It is difficult enough for a family to decide whether to take a loved one off of life support when no money is involved. When millions of dollars are involved as in this case, it becomes nearly impossible.

Contact an experienced estate planning attorney to make sure your estate plan covers all of the contingencies.

Reference: Billboard (June 19, 2015) "Whitney Houston's Fortune in Limbo Amid Bobbi Kristina Tragedy."

Extending the Slayer Rule in Missouri

The state of Missouri does not have a slayer statute that prevents someone from inheriting from the estate of someone they killed. However, as a matter of common law, the slayer rule is enforced by the state courts. Now, a bizarre new case is asking those courts to extend the slayer rule more than they have ever previously done.

Missouri prosecutors allege that in 2010 Kansas City attorney Susan Van Note entered her wealthy father's lakefront home, then attacked him and his girlfriend Sharon Dickson.

The girlfriend died at the scene. The father was transferred to a hospital.

Van Note arrived at the hospital with a Health Care Power of Attorney, which prosecutors allege was forged, and ordered the doctors to take her father off of life support.

He passed away four days later.

The prosecution's theory is that Van Note murdered her father and his girlfriend because he had made Dickson the primary beneficiary of his will.

Nevertheless, Susan Van Note had been appointed as the personal representative of her father’s will. Thus, for two years, she was in charge of her father's estate at which point she was indicted for the murders and removed as the personal representative.

Now, in the probate case, Van Note argues that since her father's will had no backup plan and the fact that Dickson predeceased him, the rules of intestate succession should apply. Consequently, she would be the sole heir to her father's estate.

However, Dickson, had an adult son from a previous marriage. He is asking the court to apply the slayer rule, exclude Van Note and her heirs, and make him the beneficiary of the estate.

If Dickson’s son prevails, this would be extending the slayer rule further that it ever has been extended in Missouri.

You can read more about the bizarre twists and turns of this case in a recent Kansas City Star article titled "Susan Van Note probate case is as curious as the murder case."

Reference: Kansas City Star (June 20, 2015) "Susan Van Note probate case is as curious as the murder case."

Visitors Center at “The Breakers” Causes Feud

When nonprofit organizations assume ownership of historical estates conflicts often arise between the nonprofits and the descendants of those who used to live at the estate. This is the case with a current feud over the Vanderbilts' estate.

The historical estate of the Vanderbilts named “The Breakers” is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the state of Rhode Island. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit it yearly.

It is currently owned and maintained by the nonprofit Preservation Society of Newport that proposes to build a visitors center on a currently empty portion of the estate to accommodate the tourists.

However, the descendants of the Vanderbilts are opposed to the idea.

Some 21 have come out publicly to denounce the plans. This feud even caused the cancelation of Vanderbilt descendant Anderson Cooper’s scheduled speech at the estate last year.

Fox Business reported this story in a recent article titled "Spat over Vanderbilt mansion gets nasty; even descendant Anderson Cooper isn't spared."

It is unclear whether the Vanderbilt descendants have any recourse here other than hoping their public opposition persuades the Preservation Society of Newport to change its plans to build the visitors center.

If the society obtained the estate in trust and building the visitors center would potentially violate the trust, then the descendants might have legal recourse. So far reports on this story do not indicate that is a possibility here.

Reference: Fox Business (June 22, 2015) "Spat over Vanderbilt mansion gets nasty; even descendant Anderson Cooper isn't spared."