Number One With a Bullet

Picking up the Casey Kasem saga five years after his death.  When we last left the beloved host of American Top 40 and the voice of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo, his second wife had sent his body to Norway for burial ostensibly because “Norway symbolizes peace and looks like heaven.”  She had previously claimed to have buried him there because she had ancestral ties to Norway.

Why is this still in the news?  Kasem’s daughter, Kerri, is trying to exhume his body and return it to LA for burial.  Last year, his widow claimed that a private investigator proved that his children had caused his death.  After the police cleared them, his daughter now maintains that the widow abused him prior to his death.  His daughter has created a foundation to pass legislation in multiple states to stop elder abuse.

Planning points?  None.  Observations?  I will keep them brief.

1.  The disharmony between daughters and their step-moms is boundless.  Perhaps Kasem’s daughter could join forces with Tom Petty’s daughter to create a large foundation to vent their hatred towards their fathers’ second wives under the guise of something.

2.  The widow and daughter should stop pointing fingers at each other and realize that an 82 year old man long suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and Body Lewy Dementia had a short life expectancy and likely died of natural causes.  Per Howard Jones, no one is to blame.

3.  Related to the prior point, but with a more contemporary musical reference, both the daughter and widow should heed the advice in a Top 5 song the year of Kasem’s death and “Let It Go.”

Photo Credit:  Jean Kasem

License:  Fair Use/Education (from linked article)

The Persistence of Illegitimacy

Salvador Dali died in 1989 and left his entire estate to the Spanish government.  Pilar Tabel is a Tarot card reader and fortune teller who claims that she is Dali’s daughter due to a brief romance between her mother and the famous artist in the mid-50's.  She has tried for 10 years to prove that Dali is her father.  A DNA test conducted from his death mask was inconclusive.  She alleged that she did not receive the results of a DNA test conducted the next year.  Dali was allegedly gay or simply preferred masturbation or voyeurism so the paternity claim of this woman seems far fetched. She also sued an author for supposedly basing a fictional character on her.  Nonetheless, a Spanish court has ordered the exhumation of his body. 

Several points:

1.  If you read the entire article, you might wish to shower afterwards.  A guy who is turned on sexually by Hitler is abnormal.

2.  I would think that a case brought 28 years after someone’s death would be barred by the statute of limitations or the principle of laches.  

3.  In the U.S., Dali would not be obligated to leave his daughter, legitimate or illegitimate, anything.

4.  It is unlikely that the woman did not receive the results of the second DNA test - I believe that they were negative and she simply waited another 9 years before pursuing this claim.

5.  I doubt I am the only person who finds this matter incredibly surreal.

Bury and Not Shred?

A NH woman was sentenced to up to 3 years in jail for digging up the body of her father last year.  He died in 2004.  The woman was miffed that she had been omitted from her father's will and was convinced her that her family had buried her father's real will with his body.  She did not find a will but reportedly found a bottle of vodka and a pack of cigarettes in his coffin.

Several points:

1.  I offer to retain the original wills and trusts for my clients.  I never suspected that preventing grave robbing is a good reason for doing so.

2. The deceased was survived by his wife.  It would have been unlikely for a daughter to inherit anything upon his death while her mother survived.

3.  The father would have had good reason to disinherit a daughter who was obsessed with exhuming his body for 10 years while claiming she was doing it for him.

4.  For some reason, the woman never thought that a shredder would be a more effective way for a family to dispose of an unwanted will.