(Not) Gentle On His Mind (Part 2)

I previously noted that Glen Campbell’s 3 children from his second marriage were contesting his will which he signed in 2006. The will omitted them, likely due to their supporting their mother during her divorce from Campbell and later suing him over the publishing rights she received in the settlement. His 2001 will also omitted them. The children recently dropped their lawsuit.

A few points:

1. The lawsuit would have been difficult to win because Campbell made both wills long before he went public with his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

2. Campbell’s estate was recently valued at $1.2 million which is way less than the original estimate of $50 million.

3. If the omitted children were successful in challenging Campbell’s estate plan, they would have inherited $100K each tops.

4. The money for recording artists is in the writing and publishing not the performing. Campbell generally performed songs written by others.

5. Three divorces, 8 children, and years of cocaine use are never conducive to accumulating wealth.

Photo credit:  Larry McCormack/The Tennessean
License:  Fair Use/Education (from linked article)

Khloe and Lamar (Update)

At the risk of turning this blog into TMZ-lite or another gossip site, Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom have called off their pending divorce. Lamar has recovered enough from his cocaine and Viagra induced coma that he is now in physical therapy.

Two brief points:

1.  Despite my advice to the contrary, good for Lamar that he did not revise his estate planning and health care documents to remove Khloe from them as beneficiary and health care decision maker.  He saved some drafting fees while also saving his life.  I suspect other disabled individuals did not have such good fortune when their estranged spouse was calling the shots.

2.  James Harden apparently does not share my sentiments about Lamar's reconciliation with Khloe.

Coma and Lamar

Lamar Odom remains in a coma in Las Vegas after being found unconscious in a Nevada brothel after going on a weekend bender with cocaine and herbal viagra. His estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, is reportedly making his medical decisions for him even though they separated two years ago and signed their divorce papers in July.  Los Angeles divorce courts have a four month backlog of divorce cases.

Several quick points:

1.  When individuals separate, they should implement new estate planning documents including health care powers of attorney.  During a divorce, the estranged spouse will be better off financially if the other spouse dies prior to the divorce finalization so it is best not to have the spouse in charge of one's medical decisions.

2.  That said, new estate planning documents are usually not a priority for a guy who was allegedly recently found on skid row.

3.  Odom's mom died when he was a teenager, his father was a heroin addict, and he had an infant die of SIDS.  When the Kardashian family was his oasis of normalcy, the man never had a chance.

Thanks to Kathy Chabot for the post topic suggestion.

Will Trivia

Among fun facts about wills (yes, there are some) are that the longest will ever probated was over 1,000 pages long, the shortest wills were 3 words, and among famous Americans who died without a will were Sonny Bono, John Denver, and Chris Farley.  I find the last fact interesting because all sexagenarians should have a will (much less sexagenarians who ski alone in trees) as should anyone engaged in high risk activities like flying experimental aircraft or heavy cocaine usage while being overweight.  Perhaps lapses of judgments with respect to mortality cross over into lapses of judgment about tending to personal affairs.