When there is more than one marriage, sometimes things can get a bit messy or complicated when it comes to estate planning. Not only are there more people to take into consideration with additional marriages and children there are other considerations as well. Take the example of Glen Campbell and the controversy over is estate.
No matter whether you are famous or not, these issues are relevant for anyone with more than one marriage. Sometimes the additional children are resentful or don’t really participate in the new family unit or have separate lives and don’t want to be connected. However, even if this is the case, it doesn’t mean they can’t come back into the picture and contest the will or plan.
When Glen Campbell passed away, he intentionally left three of his children from his second marriage out of his wills. Three of his children have just won a court decision, reports Wealth Management.com in the article “Glen Campbell’s Kids Come After the Rhinestone Cowboy’s Estate.”
The two wills at the heart of the case are from 2001 and 2006. The 2006 will names Campbell’s fourth wife Kimberly, who is the executor of the estate, and five of Campbell’s other children as his beneficiaries. While Campbell went public with his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2011, it’s not known exactly when his illness began. Because of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, the other children are contesting the will and wanting a piece of the estate. The legal burden that the estranged children face is to prove that he lacked the needed capacity to execute both wills without being affected by his Alzheimer’s.
If the will is deemed to be invalid because of lack of capacity or undue influence, the immediately preceding will would be resurrected, according to an estate planning attorney who is not affiliated with the case. The previous will from 2001 probably disinherited them as well, which is why they want to prove that both wills are invalid.
Kimberly has told a local newspaper that she would not challenge the kid’s right to contest the wills and the judge’s decision noted the lack of opposition. She has also filed a claim seeking reimbursement from the estate for more than $500,000 to cover the cost of his medical care. Both of these are being considered by the judge as part of the evaluation process prior to final settlement.
It has also been reported that one of his daughters, Debbie Campbell-Cloyd, has filed for a complete accounting of all payments made by the estate in addition to payments made to and from a previously undisclosed bank account. She alleges that royalties that should have been deposited into an account controlled by Campbell’s estate were instead deposited into this account, which is now controlled by Kimberly. The singer’s former manager has power of attorney over the account.
From just these few challenges to the estate you can see this is going to be messy and take some time (and money) to figure it all out. There may be more challenges forth coming now that some of these have been made against the estate. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out and how the will holds up in court. For someone as famous as Glenn Campbell, this could take a while and may involve millions of dollars.
Multiple children from multiple marriages generally make estates much more complicated, regardless of whether or not you are a legendary country music singer. For blended families, it is critically important to do estate planning well ahead of time. It is also important to hold a number of family meetings to discuss some of these issues with the intent to help prevent misunderstandings and estate battles. A qualified estate planning attorney should be able to help you through this process with a good outcome and more family harmony.