Prince: No Estate Plan? Out of Character
Since the iconic musician Prince was discovered dead in the elevator in his residence on April 21, 2016, there has been a lot of speculation on his Estate Plan. Prince did not leave a wife or any children. He left one full sister and several half-siblings.
Recent reports are that Prince did not leave a Will or Trust. Hard to fathom, but many people cannot face the fact that they will die – sooner or later.
While many celebrities and music icons may not handle the business of their stardom very well, Prince was quite the opposite. Prince was known for being a very detailed, goal oriented, and motivated business man. He had spent years in litigation with his record company to get back the masters and ownership of his original music. That lengthy lawsuit was only settled a few years ago.
Why does it matter if he died without a Will?
It’s estimated that Prince left an Estate that’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Like Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, the on-going value of the ownership and royalties of his music will be of great value over time.
The IRS and the Estate of Michael Jackson are currently wrestling over how many hundred millions is the current value of Michael’s future music sales. The same is also going to happen with Prince’s Estate.
If there was not an Estate Plan, then the assets will move by Minnesota Law dealing with what as known as “Intestate Succession” . That means that the beneficiaries will be people that he is related to, as opposed to any other relationships or charities. Again, given that he did not leave a spouse or any children the aforementioned sister and half-siblings would be his heirs.
Hopefully he has left a more effective Estate Plan than many other famous people who are famous for either not doing an Estate Plan or doing very weak or poor Estate Planning that did not match their relationships, tax goals or financial resources.
Question remains…
Given Prince’s meticulous, goal oriented and organized dealings with his music rights and business interests, it seems logical that he would have a very detailed Estate Plan in place. Such an Estate Plan may come forward in the future days. It may include a number of charities, as Prince was well known for quietly supporting a number of charities. If there is not a good Estate Plan in place then much of his life’s worth will be lost to taxes and the rest will go to people that he may not have liked or even known.
We will wait and see what Estate Plan is found, if any.
At the Law Firm of Steven Andrew Jackson, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, we have helped hundreds of families protect themselves and their loved ones, avoid Estate Taxes and Probate Costs, and keep their Estate Plans current with the law through The Customized Protective Estate Planning Solution™.