When the entertainer Prince died in 2016 at age 57 he left an estate estimated at somewhere between $50m and $300m. He had no children. And he died without a Will.
In 2021 his estate is still not settled, and the proceeds have not been disbursed to his heirs. Instead teams of lawyers have been working on it for years, racking up fees (reportedly $10m), arguing with heirs and being unable to reach a final outcome.
It does sound unbelievable but dying without a Will is tragically common.
In fact, it has been reported that over 50% of all Australian adults do not have a Will. Most say that they couldn’t be bothered, or just haven’t got around to it yet or think it’s too expensive or complicated. And amongst those that do have a Will many say that their Will is out of date and needs to be updated.
Typically, a Will spells out who will be your executor as well as who will receive your assets. If you die without a Will you leave it to the Courts to determine who will receive your assets and they will apply rules which may or may not reflect what your wishes may have been.
Simply put, without a Will, you typically will have no control over your own assets upon your death.
Despite this many famous people and celebrities have died without a Will creating countless problems for their heirs. Here’s some of them:
- Public figures: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jnr.
- Entertainers: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Tupac, James Brown.
These days with the assistance of technology it is much simpler, easier and affordable to put in place a Will rather than worry about how your estate will be managed after you die.
At Our Wills Your Way our automated Wills platform, with documents written by lawyers and instantly downloadable from $99 will give you that peace of mind that you need.
