Trusts & Estates Administration

Private Client Services Partner Marc M. Stern shared his insights with Wealth Management on how intestacy laws can determine who controls an individual’s estate and legacy, often leading to unintended outcomes without proper planning.

Excerpts:

Marc M. Stern, partner in the Private Client Services Group at Greenberg Glusker in Los Angeles, explained that “Of necessity, the rules of intestate succession are ‘one size fits all’ in each state, and the results that may occur in a particular situation can be undesired by the decedent or unexpected. Thus, for example, if an individual has disowned and had no relationship with their family for decades, they can still inherit from a relative, and a relative can still inherit from them.”

“Just because relatives are entitled to inherit property from a decedent through intestacy doesn’t mean that they will be good stewards of the property.” Stern said. “The laws of intestacy don’t focus on how the recipients will treat the inheritance or what they will do with the inheritance, and instead focus solely on the recipients’ familial relationship to the decedent.”

So how can artists avoid conflict like this? According to Stern, “The best thing for the creator to do to ensure the appropriate exploitation of their works (created after 1977) is to set up a testamentary trust at death with individuals who want to, and know how to, exploit the works serving as trustees, with the people whom they want to benefit as the beneficiaries of the trust.”