Two top trust advisors explain why celebrities, including Michael Jackson, often die with little or no legacy planning.

Why do so many celebrities drop the ball and pass away with no will or estate plan in place?

Michael Jackson did have some plan in place.  Based on what I learned there are some positives about what he did, but there are more lessons from what he appears to have not done.  The problem in Jackson’s case and often common amongst celebrities is that they seem to be involved with managers, lawyers, accountants that come to them and are referred to them through their own contacts rather than getting to find known, trusted, competent and well-respected advisors that can offer a client better choices.

Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, an infectious-disease specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, has a thought-provoking article in Newsweek about dying at home vs. dying in a hospital.

As a doctor at a cancer hospital, I'm often asked about death—not the spiritual side of it, but the practical. Specifically, people ask me if it is better to die in a hospital or at home. Until recently I had always voted for death at home, given its promise of relative serenity. I still think it's better. But a friend's recent experience with his elderly father reminded me that hospitals, despite their noise and hurry, still do a few things well in those difficult last moments.

In this article Professor Charles P. Kindregan, Jr., of the Suffolk University Law School examines the law applicable to using sperm and eggs from deceased people to “create” children after death.  The author examines

the difficult legal problems created by the growing practice of using the cryopreserved gametes of deceased persons to conceive a posthumous child. The law has long recognized the legal parental status of a man whose fetus is in utero in his wife's pregnancy at the time of the father's death, but developments in reproductive science has now made it possible to conceive a child after either a parents' death. This has been made more complicated by the use of assisted reproduction by unmarried persons, its growing use by same-sex couples and the developing marketplace for stored sperm, eggs and embryos. The science of preserving sperm or embryos.

One of the topics I discuss every month in my free class called “Estate Planning 101” is estate plannning mistakes of the rich and famous.  One of the best examples why you need a will or a trust to properly dispose of your property is Marilyn Monroe.  For more about Marilyn's estate planning mistakes, see this summary by “My Pink Lawyer.”

Wall St. Journal:  “For nearly 20 years, John Dotson planned to spend eternity at Block 29L, Lot 58, Site 1DD at Parklawn Memorial Park in Rockville, Md.  Heaven will have to wait.  Plagued by a series of misfortunes at home, from job loss to multiple illnesses, Mr. Dotson has decided to put the double plot he had bought for himself and his wife up for sale. “Things got really tight,” he says, and his wife has come around to the idea of cremation.  He purchased the plot in 1990 for about $1,500, and though the cemetery now values it at $4,555, Mr. Dotson says he would gladly unload it for around $2,800.”

Dr. Roberta Temes' article called “How to Write a Eulogy” covers a lot of informative ground.  The bereavement counselor's article will help anybody who has the honor to give a eulogy.

Some basic asset protection steps for physicians and nonphysicians too.

If you have a loved one who is disabled or has special needs, you should read this article called “Introduction to Special Needs Planning.”

Planning for individuals with disabilities or special needs, is complex and requires great care. It is an area of the law that is fraught with dangerous misunderstandings. This article will provide an overview of planning for those with special needs.

One source of misunderstanding is that many assume that the only element of special needs planning is the use of a special needs trust (“SNT”). While an essential component to special needs planning, a special needs trust is only one factor of the planning.

Effective January 1, 2009, Arizona adopted a new Trust Code that contains provisions requiring trustees of irrevocable trusts to notify beneficiaries from time to time about the trust.  Although this 2007 article called “The Trustee's Duty to Inform” has not been updated and not not address Arizona's new Trust Code, it is a good summary of this sometimes troublesome, but important and developing area of trust law.

This Article examines an aspect of trust fiduciary law historically ignored in the law reviews 1: the trustee's duty to provide information to the trust's beneficiaries about the trust and its administration.

Too many people put money in their IRA or retirement plan and then forget about it.  There are important planning steps that you can take that can be beneficial to you and to your heirs.  This article summarizes various IRA and retirement plan planning opportunities.

The bottom line, review and monitor your retirement planning assets with your investment adviser, accountant, pension consultant, and estate planner on a regular basis to maximize the benefits for both you and your heirs.

As an estate planning attorney, I have seen too many situations where after the parents' deaths, the children go to war over the family's vacation home.  If the parents do not create a good post-death master plan for the property, it's almost guaranteed that the kids will disagree over: (i) whether to keep or sell the property, (ii) to improve it or keep the worn-out 1970s furniture, (iii) who is going to pay the real property taxes, insurance, utilities and upkeep costs, (iv) usage (some will use it more than others), and (v) many other items too numerous to mention.

These types of problems can be resolved if the parents do their homework and adopt a plan that anticipates and avoids potential problems and has a mechanism for resolving disputes.  Attorney Wendy S. Goffe has written an excellent and very detailed three part article on this subject called “From NASCAR Condominiums to Private Mausoleums:  Keeping the Vacation Home in the Family.”

Few families successfully transfer ownership of a cabin or vacation property by accident. Families that do accomplish this Herculean feat do so only with a great deal of advanced multi-generational planning, often with mechanisms to adjust the plan as circumstances and needs change. . . .

The legal mechanism for transferring the property is only the first of many challenges. Following the transfer, the next generation must determine how to maintain the property; how to pay taxes, insurance, and maintenance; and how to divide its use among the family members. The transfer itself […]

Attorney Sarah M. Johnson wrote an informative article about what parent(s) should consider before selecting one or more guardians to raise their minor children if the parent(s) were to die or become incapacitated.

In an article about the importance of irrevocable trusts, Attorney Bob Moshman says, “The million-dollar estate is under attack.  The irrevocable living trust, without any bells or whistles, remains a potent and effective strategy.”

The American Bar Association has an excellent booklet called “Making Medical Decision for Someone Else:  How to Guide.”  It is produced by the ABA's Commission on Law and Aging.   If you make health care decisions for someone else—or might at some future point—this handbook is for you.

New York Times:  This article on the importance of estate planning starts with  ” not discussing something that is going to happen will not stop it from happening.  And at some point, someone is going to have to sort out your estate — regardless of how big or small it is.”  The article then summarizes key estate planning issues that should be addressed.