Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights! ...and what you can learn from celebrity errors [Paperback]

Andrew W Mayoras (Author), Danielle B Mayoras (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2009

The highly publicized estate battles of celebrities cast a bright spotlight on the importance of having the proper estate planning. You'll have a front row seat in the courtroom while Trial and Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights! replays the "tabloid drama" and points out what went wrong in these riveting cases. Legacy Expert Attorneys Andrew W. Mayoras and Danielle B. Mayoras are your guides - with research and court records in one hand, and juicy celebrity stories in the other. These include Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Princess Di, Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Sinatra, Martin Luther King Jr., Brooke Astor, Rosa Parks... and many others! This easy-to-follow guide is complete with Tips to Avoid a Family Fight and Ideas to Spark Family Discussion. The tips alone could save you thousands (or more!) in legal fees. Discover how to steer clear of the same celebrity estate "errors" as you protect yourself and your "heirs." The book offers practical advice to: * Protect your family with a proper estate plan * Start productive family discussions with parents and loved ones * Protect your rights if you have a loved one who is aging or has passed away and you're concerned about being treated fairly * Navigate through difficult and emotional family fights that can result when the proper planning wasn't done * Safeguard the true wishes of a mature loved one in case someone attempts to take advantage of them * Protect yourself and your family when there are questions about the right way to administer an estate or trust * Ensure that your wishes and the wishes of your loved ones are protected * Find a good estate planning and/or probate attorney For more information visit http://TrialAndHeirs.com/

Editorial Reviews

Review

The rich and the dead

It always amazes me the things that set off conversation at the beauty salon. It can be a phone call one of the women gets from her husband, an e-mail someone gets from a friend, a magazine article, in my case the other day, a book I was reading for this blog.

"What are they fighting about?" asked my stylist, Bridgette, noting the title, "Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights" by legacy expert attorneys Andrew and Danielle Mayoras.

"Dead people's money," I said.

"Who's in there?" she asked.

Heath Ledger, Flo-Jo, Sonny Bono, Martin Luther King Jr., former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, former baseball great Ted Williams, Lady Diana. There are also stories of folks who did it right, like the late Ted Kennedy, and those who are still alive, like Whitney Houston.

I read aloud the account of the fight over the estate of Jimi Hendrix, who died in 1970 at age 27 of a drug overdose intestate, meaning without a will. The book talked about how the father who didn't raise Jimi ended up with his money and passed it on to a half-sister who barely knew Jimi, giving very little to the brother with whom Jimi was very close. The estate was finally settled, kind of, in 2004.

The book touched off a discussion that lasted for the two hours I was there. I wondered what precipitated its writing, so I reached out the authors via e-mail and they graciously responded to some questions.

1. What advice would you give to help people protect their part of a loved one's wealth?

The first step is open and frank conversation, and the second is working with a good attorney. Throughout "Trial & Heirs" we offer tips to avoid family fights and ideas to spark discussion to give people concrete ways to protect themselves and their families.

2. Could Hendrix's brother have done anything to protect himself?

It depends on who you believe. If you believe his half-sister, Janie, the best thing Leon, his brother, could have done would have been to not alienate his father, who, Janie said, grew tired of his demands for money. If, on the other hand, Leon was right and his father only disinherited him because Janie coerced him into doing so, Leon could have worked with a good attorney. Of course, if Leon had convinced Jimi to create a will or trust, then this probably would not have been an issue.

3. If you are cheated, how much faith should you put in the court system to do something about it?

The system is far from perfect, but you do have rights. Talk to a qualified attorney and see what they are. The system may be able to help you more than you realize, but don't expect it to be quick or easy.

4. Why did you write this book?

We wanted to encourage families to talk about wills and trusts, motivate them to do their estate planning, and help them avoid family fights. Using celebrity stories engages readers and translates an often uncomfortable subject into something entertaining.

It did. The book also ignited a lively discussion with family and friends during a holiday gathering. Everybody who has read or discussed it has pledged to get their financial affairs in order. You can't take it with you, so you want to organize your affairs so that they won't cause a hassle among your loved ones when you go.

By Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writer --The Washington Post, December 1, 2009

Estate Mistakes: Where Heath Ledger And Princess Di Went Wrong

What do Princess Di, Marlon Brando, Heath Ledger, Jimi Hendrix and former Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger have in common? They all flubbed their estate planning, costing intended heirs money and/or grief, according to a readable (really) estate planning how-to book, Trial & Heirs. The new book uses these celebrity cliffhanger cases to dish out real-life advice.

The mistakes these folks made run the gamut. Jimi Hendrix died without a will, leaving his close brother Leon with nothing. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote his own will, which at 176 words left out basic tax clauses that could have saved $450,000 in estate taxes. Princess Di relied on a "letter of wishes" to give away belongings, and her godchildren got shortchanged.

"Everyday people can learn from these celebrity stories," says Andrew W. Mayoras, a probate litigator who wrote the book with his wife, Danielle B. Mayoras, an estate lawyer. "The cases are different only in terms of dollars and notoriety from the issues I see in my practice," he adds.

For example, in a case reminiscent of Princess Di's mistake, Mayoras is representing two of four adult children who are fighting over a typewritten list saying who gets what from their late mother's valuable collection of jewelry. The problem is, their mom didn't sign and date the list, which is something her living trust required. Enter the lawyers.

There would have been a way to avoid this messy fight, as is the case with many estate disputes. "The lady should have gone back to the lawyer who did the living trust and said, 'I want to do a list,' and he could have worked with her to do it the right way," Mayoras says. In Princess Di's case, she should have included such substantial bequests--stuff worth 100,000 pounds per godchild--in her will and not left the doling of her belongings to the discretion of her executors.

Some celebrities did try to head off problems. Just 18 months before he died, Ray Charles held a Christmastime family meeting with his 12 children and their nine different mothers. That saved the heirs some grief, and alerted them that he had prepared trusts for their benefit, but that he would leave most of his assets to charity. (Alas, his estate still became embroiled in fights over who would control the rights to his image, known as publicity rights, a major detail left out of his estate plan).

"The holidays are a great time to have those conversations," says Danielle Mayoras. Such family conversations should be an ongoing affair, as should the maintenance of your estate plan. "A lot of people go to an attorney, sign documents, walk away and think 'I'm done,'" she says. But if, for example, you have a living trust, you need to fund the trust by titling assets in the name of the trust going forward. If your estate is potentially taxable, you should consider giving away assets each year (each individual can give anyone $13,000 a year without worrying about federal or state estate or gift tax).

For more planning tips, see "Eight Steps To Protect Your Family."

In addition, you need to update your plan if you move, marry, divorce or have children. Out-of-date documents can lead to trouble. Heath Ledger didn't update his will after the birth of his daughter, Matilda Rose, so when he died at age 28, his assets went to his dad, which led to family disharmony before an eventual promise by the dad to take care of Matilda Rose.

When you do update, make sure you don't leave multiple, conflicting sets of documents or instructions. Eleanor Close Barzin, the daughter of Marjorie Merriweather Post (who during her life was often called America's richest woman) died in 2006 with multiple wills. As detailed recently by Forbes, the family is still caught in an estate fight, with lawsuits or estate matters filed in Washington, Baltimore, New York, Paris and Switzerland.

Has your family ever gotten into a fight over an estate? Talk about it in our Comments section.

Another battleground can develop if an executor--the person in charge of the estate--doesn't seem to be doing right by the deceased. Tobacco heiress Doris Duke, who died in 1993 with a fortune estimated at $1.3 billion, named her butler as executor and as trustee for a huge charitable foundation. After the butler's lifestyle and spending habits were called into question, he was removed from his duties by a probate judge, then reinstated by New York's highest court. A settlement agreement created a board of trustees to manage the foundation.

Duke should have realized her butler wasn't equipped to manage a billion-dollar foundation. Pick your executor and trustee carefully. Don't just pick the oldest child or closest relative, but someone you trust who is competent for the task and willing to do the job right--and is ready to take on any fortune fights.

Ashlea Ebeling
Forbes Magazine and Forbes.com Staff Writer --Forbes, November 24, 2009

Estate planning lessons from the stars

Everyone loves a good mashup. Whether the two worlds colliding are Jay-Z with the Beatles, books with video or Wi-Fi café/bookstores (genius!), Charles Darwin himself would be proud of these rapidly multiplying examples of interbreeding of diverse "species" spawning ever more robust progeny.

In that vein, "Trial and Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights" ... and what you can learn from celebrity errors -- from married estate planning and probate attorney team Andrew and Danielle Mayoras -- is the ultimate mashup of voyeurism into celebrity financial scandals and simple, sound estate planning advice.

If TMZ and Bankrate.com had a literary baby, it would be "Trial & Heirs."

"Trial and Heirs" transforms the potentially eye-glazing, mind-numbing, but obligatory topic of estate planning into an easy-to-read, sometimes comic but always tragically entertaining foray into how the everyman (and woman) can avoid the common asset protection gaffes rendered disastrous in the big-money context of celebrity fortunes.

Sneaking an estate-planning tutorial into a set of case studies of celebrity estate fiascoes, each chapter of "Trial and Heirs" offers not only the facts of the titular "Famous Fortune Fight" being used to illustrate a particular lesson, but also breaks out the moral of each story into "Avoid a Family Fight" tips and offers an educational set of sidebars throughout that convert the legalese of estate planning and probate trials into layperson's terms.

Don't let the cover's cartoonish caricatures of Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith and Princess Diana fool you -- this book offers quite a comprehensive, meticulously organized set of need-to-knows and cautionary tales on how to protect your assets for your demise.

Section I is all about wills, and examines the basics, pros and cons, and logistics of the age-old estate-planning document in chapters with titles such as "Is This a Will or a Napkin?"

Each topic and lesson is vividly demonstrated by a story of a celebrity will, covering the post-demise dramas of personalities ranging from Howard Hughes to Heath Ledger.

In Section II, the preferred asset-protection vehicle, a living trust, is explored. The Mayoras again proceed systematically through the basic whats, hows and whys, this time covering the logistics of living trusts, and hanging each lesson on a famous estate battle, past or current.

The authors encourage conscientious attention to estate matters via properly creating and funding a living trust as a means of demonstrating care for family members by helping them avoid the monetary and emotional vampires of will probates and contests later on.

The Mayoras also encourage creative use of living trust clauses and stipulations to ensure that your values for your descendants outlive you, as with the authors' own client, a plumber made very good, who made sure his grandchildren would maintain a strong work ethic by limiting their inheritance to a match of what they earned in any given year (with exceptions for good cause).

Section III, "People Are Crazy, Relatively Speaking," offers a primer on mental competency and undue influence -- the primary issues contested in many probate court battles.

In Section IV, which covers disputes over assets owned jointly, life insurance proceeds and gifts, the Mayoras let the tales of Princess Di, Whitney Houston's father, and Marlon Brando demonstrate that relying on "asset planning shortcuts" is inadvisable, to say the least.

And Section V rounds out "Trial & Heirs" with a set of guidelines on selecting and avoiding problems with executors and trustees.

While the majority of the book's case studies arise from big-dollar, big-exposure famous cases, there are a number of real-life, real-world examples of the authors' own clients and common-sense planning tips for "normal-sized" estates thrown in for good measure.

For example, readers who wish to provide for disabled relatives without disqualifying them from their medical and disability benefits are schooled about special-needs trusts.

"Trial & Heirs" manages to accomplish a stunning trifecta of near impossibilities for a book about estate planning. Not only does it entertain, it deeply educates and also galvanizes readers into taking action to protect their families and their legacies.

Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of "The Savvy Woman's Homebuying Handbook" and "Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions." --Inman News, November 24, 2009

Trial & Heirs: How Famous Fortune Fights Affect the Rest of Us

When I received a complimentary copy of Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights, I was skeptical. I'm not a tabloid fan and haven't paid much attention to celebrity fortune battles. I looked at the cover with amusement - catchy and colorful, I thought. That will grab a browser's eye. So will the title.

What surprised me, was when I flipped through the book, I realized there was so much more than flash. This book is packed with information for readers who just want to know if they can get a cheap will from an online source or not. It's for people who don't have millions, but want what they have to go to the right people with the least amount of hassle.

Because I repeatedly hear sad stories from adult children who have parents with dementia, I push people to get their legal work done. Leaving your family with a mess like this isn't loving. Not being a person with tons of assets to leave, I have not investigated many options other than the basics: A Power Of Attorney, a Health Directive (POA for health) and a will. This book has opened my eyes.

It's so well written and fun that even a person like me, who hates money talk, can enjoy it. And anyone reading it will learn a great deal. Trial and Heirs, written by Danielle B. Mayoras, Estate Planning Attorney, and Andrew W. Mayoras, Probate Attorney, is a good read and great education.

Carol Bradley Bursack
Author, "Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories" --Carol Bradley Bursack, December 1, 2009

Most impressive is that facts about a touchy subject matter are presented in such a clear and entertaining manner. Very easy for the common person to understand and benefit from all the good advice. Common sense with a sense of humor!

Karen Baldwin -- Producer of "RAY," The Ray Charles Story

--Professional endorsement, September 18, 2009

"[Trial & Heirs] ignited a lively discussion with family and friends during a holiday gathering. Everybody who has read or discussed it has pledged to get their financial affairs in order. You can't take it with you, so you want to organize your affairs so that they won't cause a hassle among your loved ones when you go." --The Washington Post, December 1, 2009

"[The celebrities featured in the book] all flubbed their estate planning, costing intended heirs money and/or grief, according to a readable (really) estate planning how-to book, Trial & Heirs. The new book uses these celebrity cliffhanger cases to dish out real-life advice." --Forbes, November 24, 2009

"If TMZ and Bankrate.com had a literary baby, it would be "Trial & Heirs." ... "Trial & Heirs" manages to accomplish a stunning trifecta of near impossibilities for a book about estate planning. Not only does it entertain, it deeply educates and also galvanizes readers into taking action to protect their families and their legacies." --Inman News Service, November 24, 2009

"[Trial & Heirs] is by far the most educational and clever book I have read in a long time. While not in the genre of the typical book for "dummies," it is written in a manner that will keep trust novices, as well as seasoned professionals, interested until the very end." --ABA Banking Journal, February 12, 2010

"The authors take what is a very dry subject and make it not only educational, but also interesting. What's nice is there's not a lot of fine print to bog down readers in the process. By taking estate cases of famous people and boiling them down to situations to which readers can relate, this book belongs in the library of every American over the age of 18." --Heritage Newspapers, February 5, 2010

"What do Princess Di, Marlon Brando, Heath Ledger, Jimi Hendrix and former Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger have in common? They all flubbed their estate planning, costing intended heirs money and/or grief, according to a readable (really) estate planning how-to book, Trial & Heirs." -- Ashlea Ebling, Forbes.com, November 24, 2009

"Trial and Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights" ... and what you can learn from celebrity errors -- from married estate planning and probate attorney team Andrew and Danielle Mayoras -- is the ultimate mashup of voyeurism into celebrity financial scandals and simple, sound estate planning advice.
If TMZ and Bankrate.com had a literary baby, it would be "Trial & Heirs."
"Trial & Heirs" transforms the potentially eye-glazing, mind-numbing, but obligatory topic of estate planning into an easy-to-read, sometimes comic but always tragically entertaining foray into how the everyman (and woman) can avoid the common asset protection gaffes rendered disastrous in the big-money context of celebrity fortunes.
"Trial & Heirs" manages to accomplish a stunning trifecta of near impossibilities for a book about estate planning. Not only does it entertain, it deeply educates and also galvanizes readers into taking action to protect their families and their legacies." -- Tara-Nicole Nelson, Inman News Service, November 24, 2009

"Trial and Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights! by husband and wife team Andrew and Danielle Mayoras is by far the most educational and clever book I have read in a long time. While not in the genre of the typical book for "dummies," it is written in a manner that will keep trust novices, as well as seasoned professionals, interested until the very end. Broken into 26 easy-to-read chapters, the book takes us on a journey through a fiduciary world fraught with wild and crazy, sometimes dangerous, twists and turns.
Killer girlfriends and abusive nurses, nasty kids and incompetent trustees-even a feng shui master run rampant through the pages of Trial and Heirs. This entertaining book will provide several outright laughs, as well as a few astonished gasps (my left eyebrow was working overtime). And in the end, all will discover that they have learned a little something whether they set out to or not." -- Kim Fowler, ABA Banking Journal, February 12, 2010

"Trial & Heirs is split into several major sections: Wills, Trusts, Handling Relatives, Estate Disputes and Avoiding Probate. Each section has several chapters, each paired with its own celebrity story to match it. This is where the book truly shines, as the celebrity stories add character and accessibility to a relative broad area of the law. The Mayoras do an excellent job pairing up stories with topics. Trial & Heirs is an excellent leap in helping families figure out what to do before they end up expiring." -- Aron Gold, EDGE Publications, February 15, 2010

From the Publisher

Many people have asked how many celebrity stories are in the book Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!

There are 42 total stories in the book, which are listed below. The first ones are "famous" names... but they're all interesting stories that teach various legal lessons.

TRUE STORIES about FAMOUS PEOPLE:

• Jimi Hendrix's Lasting Legacy
• Frank Sinatra
• Chief Justice Warren Burger
• Sonny Bono
• Howard Hughes
• Heath Ledger
• Flo-Jo
• Ray Charles
• Michael Jackson
• Seth Tobias
• James Brown
• Johnson & Johnson
• Brooke Astor
• Leona Helmsley
• Alfred S. Bloomingdale
• Princess Diana's Wishes
• Whitney Houston
• Marlon Brando
• INXS Lead Singer Michael Hutchence
• Jerry Garcia
• Rosa Parks
• Doris Duke
• Senator Ted Kennedy
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Ted Williams
• Anna Nicole Smith

OTHER TRUE STORIES with a lesson:

• The Jazz Man Who Was a Woman
• The Desperate Farmer
• The Great Stork Derby
• The Trust Kit Nightmare
• A Lesson On "Trust"
• The Disinherited Child
• The 'Jewish' Clause
• The Hard Working Plumber
• The CEO Who Played Chess With Trusts
• Asia's Richest Woman
• The Marital Mix-up
• The Overly Ambitious Nurse
• The Greedy Niece
• The Husband Who Didn't Mean To Die First
• The Girlfriend Who Shot Her Boyfriend
• The Trustee Who Couldn't Be Trusted

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wise Circle Books; 1St Edition edition (October 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615328865
• ISBN-13: 978-0615328867
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Law > Estate Planning > Estates & Trusts
  • #92 in Books > Law > Tax Law

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining with a little education thrown in June 5, 2010

By Dale C. Maley VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

It must be human nature for us to not want to face the fact we are all going to die someday. Depending on the survey, huge percentages of Americans die without a will.

Back around the year 2000, I decided to investigate estate planning and make sure I had an optimum estate plan in place. We got our first will as soon as our first child was born....so I had some familiarity with simple wills. I bought about 4 books on estate planning. Most of these books were a tough read because the subject is not exciting, and estate law is an arcane specialty area of the law anyway. The most helpful book I found was The 60-Minute Estate Planner. I found it the best because of the graphical diagrams showing how the money flowed after each marital partner passed away. I sought out an experienced estate planning attorney who only did estate planning. He set up marital bypass trusts for each of us. I then did all the paperwork for transferring assets to the trusts and the lawyer reviewed them for correctness before I executed them. I then re-titled the assets and updated the beneficiary forms to fund the trusts.

I bought this book with the expectation of being entertained by the stories of wealthy people without wills. Since I had previously researched estate planning, and was familiar with executing both wills and bypass trusts....I did not expect to learn much about estate planning from the book.

This book fulfilled my expectation for being entertained. I enjoyed reading the tales of famous people who had no wills. Coming from Central Illinois, farming country, I particularly enjoyed the Canadian farmer story. Seems he left for the field on his tractor and told his wife he would be back by 10 pm. He had an accident on the tractor and his legs were pinned. When he didn't come home by 10pm, his wife got some neighbors and went to look for him. They found his legs pinned by the tractor and rushed him to the hospital. He died soon after. When the neighbors went out in daylight to retrieve the tractor, they found he had used his pocketknife to scribe something like......I leave it all to my wife...then his initials. The judge ruled his inscription was a valid will.......but each will must be filed in the courthouse. He ordered the inscribed portion of the tractor to be sawn off and brought to the courthouse. It was sawn off and is now in a Canadian museum.

I actually learned a few things about estate planning in this book. I was not aware of `the terror clause" to prevent your heirs from battling over your estate. I also liked the grandfather's trust where every April after his death, his trust would match the grandchild's income shown on the grandchild's tax return. The grandfather wanted to try to instill the value of hard work onto his grandchildren.

I would suggest reading this book as an entertaining introduction to estate planning. Then read The 60-minute Estate Planner and review the graphical explanations of trusts. The AARP Crash Course in Estate Planning is also a helpful book. Then visit an attorney who specializes in only estate planning to set-up your estate plan. If you are going to set up trusts, have the lawyer help you fund the trust including filling out beneficiary forms correctly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Has wide appeal, and is highly recommended January 10, 2010

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Paperback

You can't take it with you, so where does it go? "Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights! ...And What You Can Learn From Celebrity Errors" looks at the inheritance game and what has spilled out from the deaths of pop culture icons and who takes on their legacy... and the pile of money that comes with it. A legal advice book primarily, it reads intriguingly for those who love an entertaining courtroom drama tied in with celebrity drama. "Trial & Heirs" has wide appeal, and is highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Trial & Heirs December 10, 2009

By Sal

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

A must read! Fantastic important information delivered in an entertaining, easy-to-read book. Every family should have a copy!