Where There's a MJ Will, There's a Way!

So, it looks as if Michael Jackson's will has been presented! It will be interesting to find out how good MJ was at keeping his affairs in order. I am left to ponder just when he last updated his estate plan.

According to the article, his mother had already petitioned to administer his estate. Here in Washington, his selection of an executor in his last will and testament would supercede his mother's petition as administrator. (An administrator is the title given to someone who is dealing with an intestate estate, or an estate where there was no will, while an executor is the title given when there was a will.) It will be interesting to see how this shakes out in the end.

So, for you occasional followers, I am not obsessed with Michael Jackson, simply a child of the 80s and therefore a student of his celebrity. I am certainly saddened by his loss, though you will not find me wailing on Hollywood Boulevard over his star. It has, nonetheless, given me some good fodder on here, so I will do my best to follow this and give you my estate attorney mpressions of what's going on!

Did MJ Have a Plan?

I have a hard time believing the rumors that Michael Jackson died without a will. In my day-to-day as an estate planning attorney, I come across many a wealthy client that, for any variety of reasons, has not completed their estate plan.

Surely, however, with the sea of attorneys that MJ has had around him over the years, someone must have thought to insist that he get his affairs in order! This article from Business Week is interesting regardless. I guess time will tell.

Interestingly another celebrity estate debate, the Anna Nicole Smith estate debacle, is coming to my home town of Seattle.

Have I mentioned that you should have an estate plan? ;)