If there’s an estate planning attorney out there who hasn’t been rubbing his or her hands together as the latest Anna Nicole Smith saga’s been unfolding, then they need to find a new line of work.

 

Honestly, can you imagine anyone coming up with a scenario as bizarre as this one?  

Where one person – a celebrity blonde, as busty as she is feisty, a former exotic dancer married briefly to an elderly oil billionaire – would put estate planning in the spotlight in so many different ways? 

 

And for it to be truth, not fiction, is almost too good to be true.

During her short life, Anna Nicole’s exploits included:

-          Marrying at 17, to a 16 year old

-          Giving birth to her son Daniel the following year

-          Working as an exotic dancer in a
Houston nightclub, where she met J Howard Marshall, an elderly oil tycoon and billionaire 

-          Being the 1993 Playmate of the Year

-          Marrying Marshall in 1994, and becoming his widow just 13 months later

-          Being tied up for years in litigation involving her late husband’s death

-          Starring in movies and her own TV reality show, and becoming even more famous for her weird and wonderful TV appearances

-          Giving birth to a daughter in 2006, just three days before losing her son to an apparent drug overdose while he visited Anna Nicole and his new sister in hospital

-          Going through a “commitment ceremony” (not a wedding) with her lawyer, Howard Stern, in the
Bahamas less than 3 weeks after her son’s death

-          Witnessing claims to paternity of her daughter by Stern, former boyfriend Larry Birkhead, and then by Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband as well as 2 other former boyfriends!

-          Seeing the badly embarrassed Bahamas Immigration Minister sacked after photos of him with Anna became public

-          Finally, dying on 8 Feb with the official cause of death still “unknown”.

 

If that wasn’t enough complications, Anna Nicole left a badly outdated will which left everything to her dead son.  No thought to her new daughter, or how she’d be looked after, even though she knew the fight was on to claim her.

No doubt the legal brawling over the fate of her billionaire husband’s estate will go on for years.  Wouldn’t you think the fight over that estate would have tipped Anna off to the fact that getting things sorted out while you’re still alive is actually pretty important?  Apparently not.

Now (surely, finally) all those estate planning attorneys will have their doors beaten down by mums and dad everywhere, who have been putting off doing anything about their own estate planning, right?

Don’t bet on it.  There are still plenty of people out there who think “It’s not gonna happen to me!”  Or who are just too selfish to put their families first and do what they know needs to be done. 

Stupid or gutless, take your pick. 

Don’t be one of them.  Even if you haven’t got assets like Anna Nicole (and let’s face it, not many have!)  you can still be your family’s poster girl or boy for responsible Estate Planning.  All you have to do is get off your tush and learn what you need to do.

It’s not rocket science, but it does mean stepping out of your comfort zone and taking action.  Get on to it!

Richard