It’s Ultimately About Properly Documenting Our Wishes & Instructions
- People have done the total opposite of what Prince would have wanted
- For an artist who craved absolute authority, he left no will
- An estate valued between $100M and $300M is being managed by people not of his choosing
- He alone determined what he shared and what he kept to himself, now those decisions lie with others
- “I have never seen a musical celebrity so exploited by people who couldn’t make that money off him when he was alive”
The above statements are from an article in The Washington Post from April 18. Prince’s planning, or lack thereof, in this case, is a lesson that keeps on giving.
We all have wishes, ideas, demands on how we want our property and/or assets used during our lives. Chances are we have similar ideas about those same assets after we are gone. Even if we aren’t 100% sure about what we want, we probably, like Prince, have an excellent idea about what we DON’T want. Like Prince:
- Are we private
- Do we crave absolute authority (not a bad thing)
- Do we know who we want or don’t want managing our assets/affairs
Ultimately, estate planning (via Will, Trust (both), completed beneficiary designations, etc.) is about not ending up like Prince…having our wishes carried out by people of our choosing.