Prince Will Live On In Trust and Estate Classes Everywhere…

Prince will no doubt have many legacies – musical and otherwise.   One can only hope that his philanthropic legacy will be one of them.

During his lifetime, Price quietly supported any number of charitable organizations, mostly in the areas of education, urban renewal and the environment. I, for one, did not know that he was once named one of PETA’s sexiest vegetarians.    The general consensus appeared to be that he would have supported at death many of the charitable organizations and causes he supported during his lifetime.

Sadly, it appears that the tragedy of Prince’s early death may now be compounded by the fact that he may have died intestate.   According to news reports, his sister filed a petition for administration without a will.     This is likely to cause difficulties because Prince had no direct heirs or ancestors, leaving a number of siblings and half-siblings.   In addition, his estate is likely made up a significant amount of difficult to manage and difficult to value intellectual property assets, including unpublished music.    Of course, this also means that to the extent Prince intended to benefit charitable causes through his estate, those charities may be out of luck  if bulk of his assets pass through intestate succession.   

I hope that Prince’s estate does not devolve into another sad case study for estate and charitable planners everywhere.

E.W.W.