Unfortunately, far too many celebrity estate planning mistakes were completely avoidable but became a matter of public record due to the way in which the celebrity planned or failed to plan for their future.
Amy Winehouse, Prince, and Aretha Franklin are just a few examples of unfortunate estate planning failures. However, when Burt Reynolds passed away, he passed along a legacy about the importance of estate planning.
He created a comprehensive estate plan that provided for the privacy of himself as well as his family. He established a trust during the course of his lifetime for his beneficiaries. The will mentions his trust directly.
Reynolds also used a pour-over will. Pour-over wills often contain only one entity as a beneficiary: a trust. Wills are matters of public record and wills have to be filed with the court when the creator passes away.
However, the will should just be the beginning of a person’s estate plan, as is likely the case with Burt Reynolds. The will governs the distribution of your personal probate and real estate property, as this is likely the majority of your estate.
When you establish your trust and appropriately transfer the property into that trust prior to passing away, the trust agreement governs the property inside the trust. A will made by the creator only governs the property left outside the trust.
Appropriate trust and estate planning often requires sitting down with an experienced and dedicated lawyer who will do everything possible to provide you with clarity in the estate planning process.
