When One Direction leads to No Direction
Liam Payne, star of the band One Direction, died suddenly and tragically at the age of 31. Payne left a 24£ million estate, a partner to whom he was not married, an 8-year old son, and no direction; no written expression of his wishes for the care of his property, his partner, or his son.
Liam did not have even a simple Will. While the sheer size of his estate ideally would have called for more complex planning, even a simple Will would have been enough to make some provision for his partner and protection for his son, Bear.
Perhaps, as a majority of Brits do (and Americans, too, for that matter), Liam assumed that his estate would automatically pass by law to his significant other. Perhaps at age 31 he still felt invincible, that the time to plan for the management of his massive estate was still many years in his future. There would be time to plan another day, or so it seemed. Until there were no more days.
Tragically, Liam’s assumptions were wrong; wrong about the law and wrong about the final number of his days. As a result, Liam’s estate is passing through a complicated and expensive intestate (intestate meaning “not testate”, without a valid Will) litigation process. The end result will likely be that the remainder of his 24£ million in assets will be inherited by Liam’s son at the age of eighteen (18). For most eighteen year olds, inheriting millions of dollars without any restrictions on how to handle such a large sum, is dangerous for that child. He will inherit that sum at 18, even though scientists tell us that his brain will not be fully developed until his mid-twenties.
The lessons from Liam Payne are no different than the warnings we should heed from the countless number of people - high profile or otherwise - who fail to plan. Especially if you have a child, minor or adult, the following Ten Lessons are simple, but profound, because they are true.
All we are promised in this life is TODAY. No one is promised tomorrow.
Only God knows the number of our days.
No amount of fame or fortune. Not the vitality of youth. No amount of fitness. No diet. No amount of good works. There is nothing we can count that will extend that number.
Assumptions about the law are almost always wrong. They are wrong because those assumptions are the product of listening to other people think they know the law but don’t know; or from friends or acquaintances whose inclination is to tell you what you want to hear. Almost no one wants to issue warnings. They want to alleviate fear, not cause it.
It is more important for those of us with modest estates to plan. Our beneficiaries would be harder hit by wasting $15,000 on an intestate probate case than Liam Payne’s son would be harmed by spending $15 million.
Don’t put this off even one day longer. Contact an estate planning attorney of your choice now. Schedule a time to meet and be prepared to tell them everything about your family and their needs, your assets and how you want them to be managed, your plans for the future, and the rules you want to govern that future.
Don’t let the state decide the fate of your family or the division of your resources. Replace the state’s plan with yours, because
YOUR WORST PLAN IS BETTER THAN THE STATE’S BEST PLAN.
You should never estate planning advice from anyone other than a dedicated estate planning attorney. By dedicated, I mean an attorney who deals with estate planning every day, not one who says, “Oh yeah, I do that, too.”
The consequences of failing are too great. Failing to plan for the ones you love is among life’s greatest failures.
If you want to read more about the sad case of Liam Payne, click on this link: Lessons from Liam Payne’s Death
If you want to make sure your loved ones don’t suffer the same fate, click the Book Now button at the top of this page to schedule your free Introductory Call now.
