What We Can Learn from Casey Kasem about Estate Planning – Not in Anyone’s Top 40
Casey Kasem, the celebrity radio host who counted down America’s Top 40 popular songs for years, died on June 15 at the age of 82 and left behind an estimated $80 million fortune. He also left a family feud of biblical proportions between his surviving spouse and his three children from a prior marriage. This is why we do what we do — to keep your family out of court and connected in love, not conflict.
Kasem married his second wife, Jean, who is 22 years his junior, in 1980. Together, they had one child, Liberty Kasem. Casey also had three children from a prior marriage: Kerri, Mike and Julie. The family was apparently in discord prior to Casey’s death; in mid-May, Mike and Julie filed a missing persons case with the Santa Monica police department saying they could not locate their father. At that time, Kerri was fighting with Jean over control of his care.
After Kasem died, news broke that his body had been taken from the Washington state funeral home and a judge awarded Kerri a temporary restraining order preventing Jean from removing his remains or having him cremated before an autopsy had been performed. Kerri hired a private investigator who says the body has been moved to Montreal, the hometown of a man that Jean has allegedly been involved with for the past two years.
A mess, right? And they haven’t even gotten to the money yet!
A little advance estate planning could have helped prevent this scenario, which is not uncommon when an older man takes a second wife who is significantly younger and has children from a prior marriage.
A WSJ Marketwatch.com article outlined four estate planning tools that could have helped to head off this disaster. Here’s what we can learn:
Revocable trust. Placing assets in a revocable trust can help protect the trust owner’s wealth transfer wishes, and provides the flexibility to make changes as long as the trust owner has the legal capacity to make those decisions. Upon the owner’s death, the assets are dispersed as outlined in the trust without having to go through probate. A trust is also more difficult to contest than a will.
Life insurance. A life insurance policy can be a good way to provide for a surviving spouse while leaving the rest of the estate to children from a previous marriage, or vice versa.
QTIP trust. A qualified terminal interest property (QTIP) trust is used to set aside assets for a surviving spouse’s benefit while that spouse is alive. After the surviving spouse passes, the remaining assets in the trust are passed on according to the trust terms.
Family meeting. Having a family meeting so that everyone knows their beneficiary status and what will happen to the estate after the estate owner dies is a good way to head off conflict. An estate planning attorney can mediate these meetings, which is usually advisable when there is a potential for conflict.
A Note from the Attorney, Stan Pierchoski:
The practice of law is a second career for me. After obtaining Master of Science degrees in both Nuclear and Mechanical Engineering, I worked in the Nuclear Power Industry for 15 years. Always having an interest in law, I attended and graduated from law school and founded the Pierchoski Law Firm in 2002 in Pulaski, TN. For several years I practiced as a criminal defense, trial attorney. After my parents passed I became interested in Trust and Estate Law and felt a strong calling to change my practice to the Estate Planning area.
For years I have been exclusively doing trust writing and wealth planning and have become proficient at it. Over the last several years my practice has evolved to serve all age groups including elders and Medicaid Planning. I am always open to your questions and am more than happy to chat with you about your concerns so give me a call or stop by my office. You’ll be glad you did!