by Una Tiers
Lettuce Read
Wills
Una Tiers
© 2016 by Una Tiers
Gavelle Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without written permission from the author.
Brilliant Cover Art by Gad Savage; Photograph by Una Tiers (who ate the lettuce after the picture was taken.)
First Edition, 2016
This is a teaching tool, meant to amuse and educate. It is not intended as legal advice.
Contents
Introduction
Part One
Will’s Will and Stuffe
Mark Twain and Royalties
Frankly My Dear
Who was Archibald Alexander Leach?
Parakeet Ala Carte
Life is hard. After all it kills you.
Dukes and Pilgrims
The Mystery of Lucy’s Rolls Royce
Please, Don't Publish My Diary
Happy Birthday Elvis!
Mama Cass Elliot
Planes and Race Cars First
Scrimshaw
Dead People Without Wills
Part Two
Judge vs. Nuts
Not Safe for the Bank(er)
Dorothy Daisy
Die Judge Die
Judge vs Michigan
About the Author
Introduction
The rich and famous fascinate us for many different reasons. Is it the extreme wealth we assume they possess? Do we want to be loved and admired by hoards of people? Do we want to live in Hollywood?
They are even mysterious after death. The Forest Lawn cemetery in California is filled with dead famous people. It attracts more than a million visitors a year. Graceland, where Elvis was laid to rest has over six hundred thousand visitors a year. Of course we don’t know that the only reason both locations attract high traffic is to visit the graves.
Lawyers, like me, like to read the wills and estate plans of the rich and famous. After reviewing many wills and trusts of the rich and famous, I’ve come to the conclusion that they are just like everyone else. Some of them plan carefully and others don’t make a will at all. Some have results that do not seem right, just like everyone else.
Some wills nominate a person older than the testator to inherit, administer the estate or both. Many of these people, like Elvis and Mama Cass Elliot, were either prescient or intended to update their wills years later.
The first part of this book has an analysis of wills of people who were famous. Some were movie stars, one singer, an author and a politician.
Each estate plan leaves a lesson. My goal is to have you make an estate plan if you don’t already have one, and to keep it current if you have one.
Some points about the wills are eerie, perhaps even ghoulish. But death isn’t exactly a soft and fuzzy ending.
These blogs collectively received over ten thousand views. As many as possible were released on the birthdays of the stars.
Are you wondering what connection these wills have to mysteries? They make excellent material for fiction writing.
The second part of the book has samples of my humorcides:
Judge vs. Nuts (full length mystery) (2nd Edition 2015);
Not Safe for the Bank(er) (novellette) (2013);
Dorothy Daisy (novellette) (2014);
Die Judge Die (novellette) (2015),and
Judge vs Michigan (humorcide to be released in 2016).
My books combine mysteries with a little law and a little truth.
Yes, part two is my evil plot, to lure you to read a few pages of my humorcides so that I might be able to quit my day job before they come for me with butterfly nets.
Best,
Una Tiers
Part One
Wills of the Rich and Famous
Will’s Will and Stuffe
William Shakespeare was born April 23, 1564 or April 26, 1564. Births were generally recorded when the child was baptized, on the closest Sunday.
There is no dispute that he died April 23, 1616 at age 52.
Married once to Anne Hathaway, he had three children, Hamnet, Susanna Hall and Judyth Quiney.
His will left money to his daughters, son, and nephews; he left use of a house to his sister.
In an often analyzed section, Shakespeare left his ‘second best bed’ to his wife. Some argue this is a sarcastic reference to his disappointing marriage, others say it amounts to words to acknowledge his wife.
There are many speculations about provisions for Mrs. Shakespeare outside of his Last Will and Testament. The document was signed in early 1616, the year he died.
One of the peculiarities of his will is the use of the word “stuffe.” With the eloquence of Shakespeare, it seems out of place. However, looking at his works, it was used often and may have been a common phrase.
While reading his will, I couldn’t help to compare it to today’s laws. The term 'stuff' has standard language now, such as silver, china, household goods, cars, automobiles, furniture and furnishings.
When Shakespeare left money outright to his daughter Judyth, and drew a line through her husband’s name, he was ahead of his time. In England, at this time, women inherited only if they were an only child or had no brothers. Under current law, a casual edit (drawing a line through a provision in a will) would not be recognized.
One other term in his will, his gift to his sister of use of the family owned home during her lifetime, would not be included in a will. It would be called a life estate and be a part of a trust.
Mark Twain and Royalties
Mark Twain, 1835-1910.
Mark Twain’s birthday is on November 30th and his estate plan contains an important clause for authors.
Descriptions of Mark Twain's (aka Samuel Clemens) Last Will and Testament are at odds as to the manner in which the document was prepared.
Some report that his will was a typewritten document and other reports say that Mark Twain wrote it by hand. His expressed sentiments about the typewriter (not good) suggest he wrote it out by hand. The document available was typewritten.
The legal language in the document suggests that he had a co-author, his attorney.
In his will, Twain talks about the management of his writings, and who should have input on decisions about them. The specifics were, according to the document, discussed with his daughter and close friend during his lifetime and were not spelled out in the will. The royalties for his works were paid into a trust for the benefit of his daughter and later to his grandchildren.
Authors, have you accounted for your royalties in your will or estate plan? Will they fall into the residue of your estate? The residue is everything that you have not specifically left to a particular person.
Frankly My Dear
Clark Gable was born in Ohio in 1901 and named William Clark Gable. He was the leading man in over sixty films, starting with silent movies. He died in 1960 at age 59. My favorite role was when he played Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.
One interesting career Gable had was that of a necktie salesman.
Gable was married five times. His first wife was also his agent and helped him break into show business. He married four more times after the divorce. His wife, Carole Lombard, died in a plane crash in 1942.
After she died, he enlisted in the US Army Air Force. Following basic training, his first assignment was to make a recruitment film. Then Captain Ronald Regan, (later to become President of the U.S.), signed his discharge papers from the military in 1944.
His Last Will and Testament was written in September of 1955. In it, he left a house in North Hollywood to his first wife, Josephine Dillon. The rest of his estate went to his current wife, Kathleen.
; Gable had two children, a daughter from an affair with Loretta Young and a posthumous son with his current wife. His son was born four months after his death at the same hospital where Gable died.
His will contained an in terrorem clause. In it, he disinherited any person claiming to be an heir, or any person inheriting under his will who contested the terms of the will. In the instance of a contest, the contestant would receive one dollar.
Today the in terrorem clause is rarely used in will drafting because the courts do not enforce the provision. Using the one dollar theory in the event of a contest can cause delays and attorneys fees to escalate. (This is an idea that to leave a disfavored relative something will both insult them (a dollar) and show you didn't forget them).
The lesson here is that updating your will in anticipation of or because of a big life event is important. Some examples are marriage, divorce, having a child, adopting, winning the lottery, declaring bankruptcy and more. With an update, Gable could have provided for his son.
Who was Archibald Alexander Leach?
Archibald Alexander Leach was born in England on January 18, 1902, and changed his name to Cary Grant (with the input of Paramount Studios) in 1942 when he became a naturalized American Citizen.
He died at age 82 in 1986.
Grant was married five times and retired at age 62, the same year his only child was born.
His Last Will and Testament was signed in 1984. His will left bequests to friends, including Frank Sinatra and Cary’s third wife, Betsy Drake. Several bequests were to charities.
Half of the rest of his estate, including a four acre Beverly Hills estate went to his wife of five years, Barbara Harris Grant.
The other half of his estate was placed in trust for his daughter, Jennifer, age twenty at the time of his death. The will stated that she would receive income from the trust until she reached age thirty. On that date, she would receive half of the principal.
From age thirty to thirty-five Jennifer would receive interest from the trust and the remainder of the principal on her thirty-fifth birthday.
Setting up trusts for adult children is a way to make the money last longer. It's a reason you don’t see more red sports cars on the road.
Note that you don’t need to be a movie star or millionaire for a trust to work for you.
One other distinction about Cary Grant was that he left the studio contract system and was able to maintain control over his career in a much more lucrative manner because of this decision.
Wikipedia reports that he was paid $700k for the movie, To Catch a Thief, while Hitchcock received a mere $50k.
Parakeet Ala Carte
Who Was Lucille Fay LeSueur?
Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1906, Joan Crawford died in 1977 at age 72 leaving an estate estimated at $2,000,000 and a will and trust signed in October of 1976.
In 1928, MGM studios created a contest for her fans to choose her new name. Although she was said to dislike the name, she liked the security that accompanied it.
Joan Crawford was in over eighty movies, including silent pictures and later, sound films.
Married at least four times, divorced three times, widowed once, she adopted five children. One child was reclaimed by his birth mother. She adopted one child by travelling to Las Vegas, where a single woman could adopt a child.
Ms. Crawford was rumored to have one additional marriage that she refused to discuss.
In one of her divorces, she alleged that her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, was guilty of loud arguments about the most trivial subjects.
Her fourth husband Alfred Steele was the Board Chairman and CEO of Pepsi Cola Company. She travelled with him promoting the soft drink and her movies. She was said to make as many as ten wardrobe changes a day while touring and promoting.
Only two of her four children were in her will. Each would receive $77,500 in increments from their thirtieth birthday until their fiftieth. Her two daughters who received bequests were thirty years old when she died.
One of the excluded daughters wrote a scathing book, Mommy Dearest, accusing her of abuse. The book was published after Joan Crawford died. Her friends seem to split half and half, some denying and others admitting witnessing abuse.
Many of us remember her thriller, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane with the bizarre parakeet scene.
Her estate is an example of managing money from the grave with a trust that makes distributions in increments. Ms. Crawford’s distribution plan was longer than the standard time frame.
The term disinherited is a little misleading. You are not required to leave money to your adult children.
Generally, when using a trust, inheritance is distributed in two or three increments, usually at ages 21, 30 and 35. You can make the distributions range over a longer period of time, but must consider that administration of the estate is expensive.
Life is hard. After all it kills you.
Katharine Hepburn lived to be 96 years old. She was born (1907) and died (2003) in Connecticut. Ms. H. received four Oscars, one Emmy and many nominations for awards. Independence was her trademark.
While her popularity in Hollywood waned, she purchased the film rights for Philadelphia Story which provided her with the muscle to return to Hollywood on her terms.
Ms. Hepburn signed her will in 1992 (she died in 2003). In it, she left many specific bequests ranging from $2,500 to $100,000. A bequest to one employee was based at $4,500. For each full year of employment after 1992, the gift would increase by $1,000. However, the employee was required to survive her and still be employed by her at the time of her death for this bequest to apply.
Hepburn left a series of charitable bequests and released debts owed to her by her nephews.
She also created a set of complicated trusts for her nieces and nephews and directed that gifts from her friend Freya were to be returned to Freya.
Gifts are at the heart of court proceedings in many estates. By definition, when you give a gift, you give up control of it.
Nonetheless, it isn't unusual for adult children to want gifts given to parents returned after the second parent dies. This can be a problem when there is disagreement over the source of a gift and if a gift is not in possession of the parent when the second dies.
If the parents, the recipient (and owners) of the gifts, agree with this philosophy, a list can be maintained and a companion clause should be drafted into their will or trust. Then the executor or trustee of the estate can return the gifts, or re-gift them to the original giver. If there isn't a provision, if all the children agree, the gifts can be returned.
This is a lesson to at least consider personal gifts as an issue you can address in your estate plan.
Dukes and Pilgrims
Named Marion Robert Morrison in Ohio in 1907, he went through many name changes. His parents changed his middle name to Richard when they decided to name their second son Robert. He was given the nickname Little Duke because of his large Airedale Terrior named Duke. The dog went with him everywhere. Later he was known simply as Duke.
In 1930, Fox Studios and his director agreed to change his name to John Wayne.
He died at age 72 in 1979. Wayne had a total of seven children. His Last Will and Testament was signed in 1978 and left his estate equally to his seven children. His personal property was divided into two sectors. The first was all memorabilia that had value due to his movie career. The second included art, artifacts and other objects with intrinsic value. His executor was to select items from the second category to be donated to charitable organizations.
His estate has been estimated to be worth 50 million dollars.
Although he was married three times, almost consecutively, and divorced twice, he was rumored to have many affairs. When he died, he was living with his current secretary although he was still married to his third wife. His will left bequests to a former and his current secretary.
He starred in 142 pictures over a fifty year career.
In 20
06, his son Ethan, the president of John Wayne enterprises, sued his sister-in-law over John Wayne memorabilia.
In 2010, one of his (John Wayne's) daughters sued the estate because she wanted her share bought out of the enterprise. The value of her share was disputed between 10.7 and 15.4 million dollars.
In 1985, the John Wayne Cancer Foundation was established after his family allowed the use of his name in the fight against cancer. The foundation raises funds for research and assistance to cancer patients. They sell John Wayne sunscreen, hats, John Wayne bandanas and of course t-shirts.
In 2014, thirty five years after his death, John Wayne Enterprises applied for a trademark for bourbon sold under John Wayne's name. Duke University sued his enterprise complaining that using the word Duke could harm the reputation of the University. The word 'Duke' was placed on Kentucky Bourbon bottle labels with a picture of John Wayne and a horse saddle. This was the third lawsuit instituted by the University. It was eventually dismissed.
The lesson is that your legacy can include all sorts of things, even sunscreen
The Mystery of Lucy’s Rolls Royce
Lucille Ball entertained us with her slightly outrageous comedy, red hair and strides accomplished in show business.
In the second season of I LOVE LUCY, she was pregnant, in real time and on the program. Did you know the sponsors referred to her condition as 'with child?' They prohibited the use of the word pregnant.
Born as Lucille Desiree Ball in 1911, she enjoyed a career spanning decades. She was married twice and had two children with Desi Arnez, her first husband. Lucy and Desi were married in 1940 and again in 1949. In 1944 Lucy filed for a divorce, but the parties reconciled. In 1960, they were divorced.
