02 Apr CELEBRITY ESTATE PLANNING COURT DECISION UPDATES FROM “GAME OF THRONES” TO “GRACE FOR GRACELAND”
For the past several years, we have reported on many ongoing court cases concerning celebrities of their estate planning or court cases contesting their planning. The following are a few of the updates since our previous articles:
- RUPERT MURDOCH –
Murdoch failed in his attempt to revise his succession planning to amend his irrevocable trust (which included control over his family media holdings, including Fox News and News Corp) so that his conservative-leaning son, Lachlan, would be in control instead of equal control by his 4 eldest children. The Nevada commissioner determined the attempt to amend the trust was a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” regardless of the impact on the companies or the beneficiaries. They found that Murdoch acted in “bad faith”. See our original article entitled “Fox News Future Depends on Murdoch’s Ability to Make “Right” Pick – The Real Life “Game of Thrones”. - CHARLEY PRIDE –
Tyler Pride, son of the famed country western artist Charley Pride from an affair, reached a settlement with the Estate of Charley Pride. He had contested Pride’s will on grounds of Pride’s “lack of capacity” and “undue influence” by Pride’s wife. He settled for a place that “he and his family call home”. See our original article “Pride and Prejudice? Did Charley Pride’s Will Treat his Secret Son Unfairly? Six Steps to Reduce Risk of a Disgruntled Beneficiary”. - RICHARD SIMMONS –
After a battle between Richard Simmon’s brother, Lenny, and Simmon’s housekeeper and house manager, Teresa Reveles Muro, over who should be the trustee over the late fitness guru’s estate, the court ruled that Teresa could act as interim co-trustee with Lenny. She is now accusing him of being left out of trust administration and alleges him of spending $843,000 ($566,654 in litigation costs to remove her as co-trustee and $277,200 for having 24-hour armed “security” at Simmons’ home without her consent. See our article “Richard Simmons Trust – Weighty Battle for Control Between His Brother and Housekeeper”. - ELVIS PRESLEY’S GRANDDAUGHTER BATTLE OVER GRACELAND –
Previously, a company, Naussany Investments & Private Lending, claimed that the late Lisa Marie Presley used Graceland as collateral on a loan and it attempted to foreclose on Graceland. The court ruled there was forgery and fraud. A Missouri woman, Lisa Jeanine Findley, pleaded guilty to a charge of mail fraud relating to the scheme to try to auction Graceland. She is to be sentenced on June 19. See our article “Grace for Graceland: Foreign Fraudsters Foreclosure Theft Foiled”. - GEORGE CARLIN –
The Estate of George Carlin sued Dudesy and its podcast comedians for using AI to infringe on its publicity rights and copyrights. The case was settled as the podcast “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead” was removed from the internet and the defendant agreed to stop using Carlin, image, voice and likeness without the permission of the estate. No other terms were disclosed. See our article “George Carlin’s Estate Sues Since AI Fake Comedy was no Laughing Matter”. - WENDY WILLIAMS –
After being placed under guardianship, Wendy Williams still wants “to get out” of her guardianship. When referring to the guardians and the judge, she stated “How dare they say I have incapacitation. I do not! It’s been over three years, and you know, it’s time for my money and life to get back to status quo”. Williams has primary progressive aphasia and frontal temporal dementia (which she denies). See our article “Free Wendy Williams?”.
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