Published in Aldrich Law Firm | Articles
By Russell Aldrich on April 1st, 2023
Death comes to us all, and celebrities are no different than the rest of us in that regard. Their families, like most, have their own unique history with intricate webs of rivalries, relationships, and jealousies that remained hidden behind a carefully cultivated, public-relations veneer of familial harmony and happiness. Often, this family disfunction becomes known to the broader public only after the celebrity’s death, when surviving loved ones go to court and vie for control of the deceased’s sizeable estate.
Sordid details of the celebrity’s private life and allegations of greed, lust, and manipulation fill the pages of court documents, destroying the privacy that the deceased celeb had spent a lifetime trying to maintain. The details that emerge through these estate battles show us that life of a celebrity is not so different than that of our own. These highly publicized affairs and the significant harm they cause to both finances and family relationships also highlight the importance of a good estate plan so as to try and avoid a probate dispute in your own family after you die.
To illustrate this point, here are ten notable estate disputes involving celebrities, billionaires, and other notable persons that were waged under the public eye and which now occupy our collective memories as a poignant reminder that money and fame do not, in fact, buy happiness:
Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.
Ambrose Bierce, American Author / Journalist / Poet
