Astor Matter Reminds Us that Trustworthiness is Essential When Nominating Substitute Decision Makers

Lately, the matter of Brooke Astor’s estate has been covered in the media. Like many people she had an estate plan in place which included a Durable Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy, which nominated subsituted decision makers in the event she would lose the capacity to make important financial and/or medical decisions at some point during her elder years. She did not want to burden her family with obtaining a Guardianship and/or Conservatorship through the courts. She did end up suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and her son took over her financial powers. He just didn’t do a very good job…

The following is an exerpt from this week’s AZCentral.

Anyone who has signed a financial document has to be squirming a bit over Brooke Astor’s estate case.

Her son, Anthony Marshall, recently was convicted of stealing millions of dollars from Astor while she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease before her death. Although the case largely centered on a contested will purportedly signed by Astor, other estate-planning issues also came into play.

One was a financial power of attorney signed by Astor that gave Marshall authority to direct her affairs if she became incapacitated - and the means to steal from her.

The episode provides a wake-up call for people who use financial powers of attorney. These legal documents can be highly effective in ensuring that someone else will be around to handle financial matters for you if you’re alive but unable to do so - as in the case of mental incapacity.

A power of attorney can be as short as a page or much longer, depending on the detail desired. They’re often included with a trust, will, health power of attorney (addressing medical issues) and other estate-planning documents.

For all the benefits of using a power of attorney to avoid a potential court-supervised conservator situation, there are pitfalls, too.

In particular, you need to trust the person whom you designate to act on your behalf. And you should make sure he or she is responsible, diligent and reasonably astute.

“They really are documents that people should pay attention to,” said Denise McClain, a financial principal and attorney at wealth-management firm Lowry Hill in Scottsdale. “You’re potentially passing along a lot of power.”

Michael Jackson’s Estate Plan Manages to Keep Some Private Matters Private

The media has been covering Michael Jackson’s death quite extensively and many regularly scheduled programs will not air tomorrow as his memorial service is broadcast live around the world. News outlets are digging, trying to answer many questions surrounding his untimely passing, including estate and guardianship issues involving his children. However distasteful, it isn’t surprising that Michael Jackson’s Will was made available for anyone to see online within hours of it being filed with a Los Angeles Probate Court.

Ever wonder what a pop icon’s Will looks like?

Shocked that such an intimate document is available for public reading? Don’t be. Wills become public documents when they are filed at the local Probate Court.

So what did we learn from his Will?

• His ex-wife, Deborah Rowe received nothing,
• He named his mother, Katherine Jackson, to act as guardian for his children and their estates  if he died while they were minors.
• The successor guardian, if Katherine can’t serve in that role, is none other than Diana Ross!! (Huh?!)

So what do you do if you don’t want all your estate planning wishes to be read and scrutinized by anyone, including the media? How do you maintain your privacy? You create a Revocable Living Trust in conjunction with your Will. Michael Jackson did and you don’t need to be a superstar to have one drafted to protect your family.

Jackson created the Michael Jackson Family Trust, which is referenced in his Will. Both were signed in 2002. These are the most recent estate planning documents Jackson executed that have been presented to the court, to date. There is a chance that more recent documents will surface in the near future. In Massachusetts, anyone holding a Will of a deceased person has 30 days to file it with the appropriate Probate Court.

So how much money did Michael Jackson have? Who gets his real estate and assets under the Will? His entire estate was  transferred to the Michael Jackson Family Trust, a private document that is not scrutinized by anyone other than his named trustees.  Arguably, not even the Probate Court in Massachusetts would be involved had he been a resident. Logically, his three children are would-be beneficiaries, but no one knows for sure because the Trust is a private document.

So, despite all the media kerfuffle that has occured since Michael Jackson’s passing, the King of Pop has managed to keep some private matters private through proper estate planning, something even the average American should consider.

So when is a Will not enough? Want to know if a Revocable Living Trust is right for you and your family? Set up a consultation with Vickstrom Law to review your family’s specific needs.