{"id":1518,"date":"2018-09-26T18:18:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T18:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barthattorneys.com\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2018-09-26T18:18:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T18:18:15","slug":"the-queen-of-soul-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barthattorneys.com\/the-queen-of-soul-passes-away\/","title":{"rendered":"The Queen of Soul Passes Away"},"content":{"rendered":"
By now you surely know that Aretha Franklin passed away on August 16th, 2018.\u00a0 What an incredible career she had. Franklin was nominated for a Grammy 44 times and won 18 of them. Here is a photo of her early in her career.<\/p>\n
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It’s unreal to believe that such a successful and famous person did not have a Will or a Trust in place. Her four sons have listed themselves as interested parties and a niece has asked the court to appoint her as a personal representative of the estate. Oh boy.<\/p>\n
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So what is going to happen now?<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Franklin’s estate has been assigned to probate which is an expensive and time consuming scenario. Since she did not have a trust, everything is going to be open to public viewing.<\/p>\n
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Creditors will have a chance to make claims on the estate and Franklin had a history of bad debts. If the story of other celebrities is any guide, we will probably see unknown people surface to stake a claim on the estate.<\/p>\n
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The Franklin estate could also be hit with estate taxes. She was divorced but we don’t know the extent of her wealth. We do know that she owns several mansions and rights to her music. All of us will be able to see what is going on with her personal affairs over the coming months. No privacy with probate.<\/p>\n
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Even the most basic of estate planning would have been a good move, which would include:<\/p>\n