Billy Mays Dies Without a Last Will and Testament
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You are
not alone if you have never done any estate planning before. Over 60% of
all Americans do not have a current Will or Trust in place for when
they die and that number increases to over 65% for parents of minor
children.
Well-known Pitchman, Billy Mays, who died in
June, also did not have a Will! His wife filed for probate in
(Billy's county of residence at the time of his death), "intestate" which means "dying without a Will."
Since Billy died without a valid Will in effect,
default intestate laws apply for his assets
subject to probate. In his case, since he died with a surviving spouse,
an adult child from a previous marriage and a minor child with his
current wife, all of his property passing through probate will be split
equally between his surviving wife and his children (50% to his wife
& 50% to both his children-25% to each child). Since Billy's
daughter is only 3 years old, a court ordered guardianship of the
property will eventually need to be set up prior to her inheritance as
she is too young to own property outright. The young daughter's court
appointed guardian (her mom will have priority in being appointed) will
then need to account for the guardianship property annually to the
court until her daughter turns 18 at which time she will receive all of the guardianship assets outright.
Definitely not the ideal situation and most likely not what Billy would have wanted.
Billy's surviving spouse is entitled to additional property rights under
law. Billy's widow has already filed for
and been granted by the Probate Court a "Family Allowance." The
purpose of the family allowance is to provide a reasonable allowance of
money from the estate for the family's maintenance during
administration of the estate.
At
this point, potential creditors of Billy's estate are being notified
and given an opportunity to file claims in his estate. All valid
claims will need to be paid to the extent there are available assets to
do so prior to any distributions from the estate to beneficiaries. In
fact, one whopping claim has already been filed by Whitney National
Bank in the amount of $631,000!
Remember,
we're only discussing Billy's probate assets here-assets he owned
individually or as co-tenants in common with another person, such as
stock, real estate, bank accounts, etc. Any property jointly owned
with a right of survivorship or that has a valid beneficiary "payable
on death" designation, such as life insurance, retirement accounts,
annuities, etc., will be given automatically to the surviving owner or
the named beneficiary without having to pass through probate so
hopefully Billy's widow has access to other monies while the probate
process runs its course.
The bottom line:
Make sure your estate planning "ducks are in a row" and don't stick
your head in the sand about your family's financial affairs when you
are not around. NOW is the time to get your affairs in order while
you're still able to do so.
Remember,
the planning we do is not for us....it's for our loved ones because it is
OUR FAMILIES WHO WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE PLANNING WE CHOSE TO DO, OR
NOT DO, FOR THEIR BENEFIT WHEN WE HAD THE CHANCE.
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