The executors for the estate of Whitney Houston filed a petition last week to amend some of the distribution language in Whitney’s Last Will. The wording in question outlines the trust to be created for her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown’s benefit. The executors are working to amend the Last Will to provide the Trustee with less discretion over payments to Bobbi Kristina. The petition states that Bobbi Kristina "is a highly visible target for those who would exert undue influence over her inheritance and/or seek to benefit from respondent’s resources and celebrity."
Whitney’s Last Will gave the Trustee of Bobbi Kristina’s trust liberal discretion to make payments of principal and income out of the trust for Bobbi Kristina’s benefit. Whitney’s Last Will also outlined the following series of principal payments to Bobbi Kristina: 1/10th of the principal when she turned 21, 1/6 when she turned 25, the remaining balance when she turned 30. Language of this sort is found in many estate planning documents.
In Oregon, and in most states, attorneys have a handful of ways to try to alter distributions in order to protect vulnerable beneficiaries. The text of properly executed legal documents is difficult to argue against, however, no matter how compelling or heart wrenching the story is about the beneficiary’s circumstances. The facts of each specific case determine the strategy when amending these sorts of provisions.
Whitney Houston’s estate is dealing with arguing family members, issues over control, and servicing the sizeable debt Whitney left behind. These issues come up fairly often when administering estates. My colleague Glen Goland and I will be discussing some of the practical lessons we can learn from the estates of Presidents, Princesses and Rock Stars at a 90 minute seminar in our office next week. Our meeting will take place from 7:30 to 9 AM on Thursday October 11. To register for this seminar, please contact us at events@samuelslaw.com or 503-226-2966. Space is limited, so be sure to contact us soon.
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