Modern Love

Lawyers handling the estate of David Bowie have set a date of May 4 for anyone claiming to be a child of Bowie's or a creditor of his estate to file a claim. The "child" part is important because the allegedly once bi-sexual Bowie left 1/4 of his estate to each of his two acknowledged children and half to his wife. The issue is that Bowie claimed to have been "incredibly promiscuous" during the 70's and 80's. His romances are alleged to have included Mick Jagger's former girlfriend (Marianne Faithfull), Mick's ex-wife (Bianca), Mick himself, Susan Sarandon, Charlie Chaplin's widow (Oona O'Neill), and Slash's mom. And your childhood best friend's mom. Or dad.

Several brief points:

1. Under Ohio law (and Bowie would be the last person to claim residence in Ohio), creditors have six months from the date of death to file a claim against the estate for money owed by the decedent.

2. Illegitimate children generally can only claim from their dad's estate if they were acknowledged by the decedent or if the child proves paternity after the death of the decedent.

3. In drafting estate documents for the Thin White Duke, it would have been best to specifically name the children rather than use the term "my child" which opens the door for illegitimate children to inherit.

4. The good part of May-December romances (i.e. Oona O'Neill) or bi-sexual couplings (yeah, we are looking at you, Mick), is that paternity is not a concern.

5. Bowie definitely knew about the power of charm, but he never let love walk on by.

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Made for Hollywood - Wealth, Murder, Gangs, and Prostitutes

I wish I had the screen rights for this story.  A wealthy tech investor was murdered by gang members who were related to the harem of prostitutes who spent considerable   time in the house he shared with his ex-wife.  In addition to 2 adult children, he had 2 children with a former prostitute who are now seeking support and half of his estate.    

Only two points:

1.  The claims of the prostitutes's daughters will depend on how he defined children in his will.

2. Not to be Puritanical, hanging with unsavory characters and living a hedonistic life might be fun, but it rarely ends well.