Stan Lee
Stan Lee (Stanley Martin Lieber) was born December 28, 1922 in New York City. He died November 12, 2018 at age 95. He was married to Joan Boocock and he had two children, Joan Celia Lee and Jan Lee.
During his life time, he was a comic book writer, an editor, a publisher and a producer. He also won many awards in his life time. Such awards include; Hall of Fame award, Disney Legends among others.
Stan Lee’s tangled web of estate planning
Stan Lee in an interview with Daily Beast said “I learned later on in life, you need advisors if you are making any money at all” Stan Lee’s web of estate planning actually proved to be tangled. During his life time, record has it that he had worked with so many people including attorneys, business partners, etc. he made many avoidable mistakes which landed his estate in a messy situation after he died.
There were many things he could have done but didn’t do and all these things back fired after his death.
Failure to plan your will
One major reason Stan Lee’s estate became complicated was his failure to plan. This single mistake could ruin all someone labored for their entire life. Imagine the court determining the distribution of your estate to your heirs. Your estate will definitely go through court probate and this automatically makes it public. When your estate is under probate, it means anybody who is interested can access details of your estate.
Not planning means at your death, your love ones will have to go through the process of documentation and all that. And this does not come without a cost as they attorneys will be paid.
Apart from the cost incurrence, your estate won’t be easily accessible by your loved ones. This could be very bad if the livelihood of your family totally depends on it. It means many essential and basic life needs like tuition fees will be disrupted.
At your death, so many creditors can come up claiming you owe them when you actually don’t owe most of them. Some can even falsify what you owe. This will pose a problem for whoever the court appoints as your executor as he will have to be very smart and logical to figure out the truth. Apart from that, this could really have an adverse effect on your estate and might leave your heirs without an inheritance.
Late planning
Late planning can be as bad as not planning at all. In the first place, early planning save you from so many risks. In the case of Lee’s situation report has it that at his later days he signed a document stating that his daughter spends too much, yell at him, etc. but few days later he took it back. These experiences are common with the old folks. Old folks are easily manipulated and it is even hard for them to trust their own decisions. They might end up trusting the wrong persons. Often, old folks suffer from certain ailment like dementia which makes them forget important and vital things. This makes them incapable of taking reasonable decisions.
Planning on time, when you are well physically and mentally is very important as it help you eliminate these old age drama.
Steps to estate planning
Probably Stan lee would say he didn’t know much about estate planning. Well, how about you? Now you know the importance of estate planning. Have you taken it upon yourself to start the process while you still can?
The first step in estate planning is to get your attorney to educate you properly of all that there is to estate planning. This will reduce the chances of making permanent mistakes. Lee said one of the mistakes he made in his early life was that he trusted the wrong people. You have to be very smart in putting your estate planning team together, to avoid hiring the wrong persons. Your state planning team should include of your attorney, financial adviser, etc.
Determine whether you wish to avoid probate or not
Probate isn’t entirely bad but, its process does not sit well with most people. If you are among this set then you have to look up ways such as trust in which you can avoid probate.
It is unfortunate to suffer from a mistake you had no idea about but what is worst is suffering from a mistake you know exist and could have avoided it but you didn’t. Do the needful today. For consultation and hire, our attorney is just a call away.
