Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] They are going to be fighting over this for some time to come. There's $80 million at least in the estate to fight over. So a lot of attorneys are going to probably be involved. A lot of attorneys going to make a lot of money. Unfortunately, because of a. Probably a lack of really good planning, not knowing exactly what was in the will, not knowing exactly what all went into the estate planning with him. It's just sad to see that now there's going to be a probate. It's going to be open to the whole world to see.
[00:00:41] Hey, everybody, this is Joe Siegel, your real estate, estate planning, asset protection lawyer here in Florida. Unfortunately, Gene Hackman died. My favorite role that Gene Hackman ever played was when he played Lex Luthor on Superman. But Unlike Lex Luthor, Mr. Hackman only had a will. You would have thought someone with as much money and prestige as he had, he would have had a trust that would have handled everything that happened upon his death. But unfortunately, he only had a will, and he left everything to his wife, Betsy Arakawa. $80 million. He left her $80 million. And he wrote this will in 1995, and he updated it in 2005. He left nothing to his children, so. So he left $80 million to his wife. Well, for those who have seen the news, you saw Ms. Arakawa, unfortunately, also died. Apparently, she died about five to seven days before Mr. Hackman died. She died of the hantavirus, and then he died days later, probably of a heart failure or another problem related to Alzheimer's. Because he had Alzheimer's. He was 95 now. So his will left everything to Mizarakawa. $80 million. Zarakawa then died a few days after him. In some wills, that would be considered to be a simultaneous death, as if they died together, say in a plane crash or a car crash at the same exact time. Typically, when a will says that you die at the same time, it is presumed that the other person died before you. We don't know exactly what Mr. Hackman's will said, but it is sort of up in the air. And if his will deemed that simultaneous death was within one day of each other, or at the same. Exactly the same time, or if it was silent on the issue, then the law is going to determine what happened to his estate. So if they died at the same time, maybe his estate would have skipped her and gone to the next person or the next charity down the line. But in any event, he did not leave it to his children. Now, Ms. Arakawa's will, assuming that everything that the gene had went to Betsy. Then her will leaves everything to pay off her final medical bills and then charity, nothing to the children. Well, needless to say, where there is a will, there is a relative. So the children are challenging Mr. Hackman's will, of course, and they are going to be fighting over this for some time to come. There's $80 million at least in the estate to fight over. So a lot of attorneys are going to probably be involved. A lot of attorneys are going to make a lot of money, unfortunately, because of a probably a lack of really good planning, not knowing exactly what was in the will, not knowing exactly what all went into the estate planning with him. It's just sad to see that now there's going to be a probate. It's going to be open to the whole world to see when it could have been handled probably by putting everything into revocable trusts and irrevocable trusts, charitable trusts. If they were going to leave things to charity anyway, they could have set up charitable lead trusts or charitable remainder trusts, which would have also saved some money on the estate because the estate is definitely large enough that it's going to have estate taxes as well. So there are different things that this teaches us. There are lessons to be taken from this celebrity's death. Yet another one like Prince, like Matthew Perry. Matthew Perry's estate was planned very well. Prince's was not. Here's another one where they relied on wills. And the courts are going to have to get involved now to determine who died simultaneously, who didn't die simultaneously, whether the will was executed properly, whether there was undue influence, whether he was fully competent at the time he executed his will. Things like that are all going to be out there in the open. All that drama, all that business is now going to be out there. So unfortunately, his memory is not just going to be in my heart as Lex Luthor, but it's also going to be this trust and estate probate litigation that we're sure to hear about over the next few years. So if you want to avoid that, definitely speak with an estate planning attorney, get everything set up the right way from the get go. Living trust in this case could have probably provided for live in full time nursing care so that if something like this had happened, not only would Jean have been taken care of, but Betsy as well. Maybe her death could have been avoided completely, had a better plan for, not only for estate planning, for their money, but also for their health, for their personal care had been taken care of and dealt with upfront and honestly and hired people to live in full time as caregivers for them. So. So with that, I'll leave you with those thoughts. Unfortunately, these things happen, but I like to at least get it out there from a legal perspective. Get people thinking and talking about it as something that every one of us needs to be thinking about, not just celebrities.
[00:05:49] Thanks for listening to this edition of Trust this. If you got something out of it, please press like and subscribe and give us a five star review to help us reach others who can benefit from this series. Until next time, keep aspiring to a better life.
