Could Michael Jackson's Will be a Setup?
View PDF | Print View
by: ryshep13@gmail.com
Total views: 25
Word Count: 833
Michael Jackson's will almost certainly has mistakes. The family is already in court even though he had a family trust, and the attorneys are racking up the fees. What we do know at this point is that the will named his mother as primary guardian and Diana Ross as secondary guardian for his children. His prior attorney John Branca, whom he fired in 2006, and John McClain, an old friend, are executors of the will. It is rumored that the will distributes parts of the estate to his mother, his children, and charities, but he also has a family trust that may take precedence. The buzz is that the will puts the whole estate in the testamentary trust. There are apparent problems with the way the will and his estate were drawn up.nnWhatever your financial position, you don't need to make the same mistakes Jackson made in his estate planning. nNaming your attorney executor of your estate is the first mistake to avoid. Your lawyer should never be appointed as your executor, even if he is your close counselor. It's an error in good judgment for an attorney who draws the will to assign himself the executor role. Unexplained things happen without a challenge. The attorney who had Jackson's will took quite a while to come forth. Why? Jackson's mother's lawyer, Burt Levitch is noticeably aggravated that he started a proceeding for custody of the children on behalf of Katherine Jackson, and then a will appeared. Mr. Branca had to know he had the will. You don't just draft a will for someone like Michael Jackson and stick it in the drawer and forget it is there.nnSecond, avoid the guardian mistake.Michael Jackson's will did not have stipulations placed on the guardians he appointed.Jackson's mother is first choice and Diana Ross is second choice as guardian is all that the will states. The lawyer, Mr. Branca, should have made the will so that Jackson's mother was his first choice provided she had good health or provided that she was under a certain age. When the will descended to the next choice of guardian, provisions limiting Diana Ross' selection could have also been outlined. For example, Diana Ross is to be guardian provided she raises the children in Neverland, or provided she raises the children in a certain religion, or sends them to a specific school, or keeps them out of the public eye. The possibilities go on forever. Don't get carried away with the possibilities, but choose the provisos that are really important to you when you draft your will.nnIn Guaranteed Millionaire, my latest book, I go through the variations so you can understand and make a wise choice of provisions.nnAs a final point, you can basically never totally remove a child's biological mother from the picture, and that is true in the case of Michael Jackson. Although Michael Jackson's first two children were born to his wife Debbie Rowe, who is the biological mother, the third child, Prince Michael II (Blanket), was born to a surrogate mother. The surrogate mother undoubtedly gave up her rights to the child as part of the surrogacy contract.Nevertheless, it is just about impossible to remove a biological mother from the picture if she wants to mother her children. After their divorce in 1999, Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe later worked out an agreement for custody of their two children. Michael and Debbie's custody agreement is secret; the terms of their divorce were not released. Michael Jackson had the children in his custody from 2006 until his death. That does not remove all of Debbie's parental rights, however. n nDebbie could obtain custody of her biological children and possibly Prince Michael II if she tries to press her parental rights in court, but it is questionable whether she will try.nnYou need to draft your will's guardianship provisions very carefully if you are in a situation where there is an ex-spouse that might obtain appointment of guardianship over the children, and you don't want that ex-spouse to get custody.Your ex-spouse has an excellent chance of being awarded custody of the biological children by the court, despite the fact that you name other guardians in your will. If the ex-spouse is really unfit to be the children's parent, you need to educate the judge who will be making the decision. Your will should include that education. Diplomatically give details in your will as to the reasons why your ex-spouse should not be granted custody. If you are vindictive, you will probably lose. "Just stick to the facts," as Joe Friday on Dragnet used to say.nnThe courts are dealing with custody of the children right now. My future articles will deal with other problems in Michael Jackson's will as they arise.nnLee R. Phillips is an asset protection lawyer and author of 19 books, including a Time Warner Book-of-the-Month Club. Guaranteed Millionaire is his latest book. For a limited time, get a 25% discount on it at www.Phillipn
About the Author
Living Revocable Trusts Online is an information site aimed at helping prepare you and your family for the future through creating a usable living revocable trust.n
Rating: Not yet rated
