• Home
  • Practice Areas
    • Estate Planning
    • Probate
    • Elder Law
    • Business Planning
    • Pet Trusts
  • Blog
  • Meet Our Staff
  • Pay Online
  • Contact

Blog

Robin Williams: A Private Struggle in a Public Light

8/15/2014

 
Robbin Williams
Robin Williams was amazing. As a youngster, I first watched him on Happy Days. Almost immediately after that he was the star of Mork and Mindy. Even someone like me – who is not a great judge of talent – would watch him and know that he was something special. His graduating to the status of leading man in movies was seamless. Many of the roles he played demonstrated that he was a dramatic actor of the first order.

More than his talent, which virtually all would agree was prodigious, was the respect that he received from fellow actors, from fellow comedians and from people who are paid to be critical, the critics. As I read the articles in the Los Angeles Times by their various entertainment critics, it was apparent how much respect they had for him.
I have read that Williams did some estate planning. I do not pretend to know anything about the composition of his estate or his income, or what types of money his estate can expect to receive. I do know that he is survived by his third wife, and three adult children. In addition to the living trust that I have read that he had, hopefully Williams had engaged in some more advanced estate planning because I assume his estate was large enough to generate estate taxes.

Even those wealthy people who have not engaged in extensive estate planning can avoid estate taxes at the first death if the spouse gets everything, but the exemption amount which is currently $5,340,000. However, Williams’ widow is not the mother of his children, so if he left his children more than $5,340,000 without having done some estate tax planning, it is quite possible there will be some taxes due. Hopefully, his financial people got him to meet with a wills and trusts attorney who helped him with sophisticated estate tax planning.

A final thought. When I read the news of his death, I was deeply saddened in a way that I do not frequently feel when I read of the deaths of other celebrities. Part of it was because of the loss of this enormous talent at such a young age; part of it was sadness for what he must have been feeling; and part of it was sadness that someone who contributed to my happiness during my teenage years is gone.

Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    Business Law
    Celebrity Insight
    Conservatorship
    Elder Law
    Estate Planning
    Financial Planning
    Guardianship
    Michael's Ramblings

    RSS Feed

    Michael Burstein
    Picture
    Estate Planning and Probate Attorney, Manhattan Beach Local, Sports Enthusiast

    Archives

    November 2018
    April 2017
    June 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2012
    April 2011

Picture
EXPLORE OUR SITE

  • Practice Areas

  • Seminars

  • Blog

  • Client Center

  • Meet Our Staff

  • Contact
LOS ANGELES

3611 Motor Avenue, Suite 220
Los Angeles, California 900
34


​Tel: (310) 391-1311

​Fax: (310) 391-4853

​
MANHATTAN BEACH

111 North Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 250 Manhattan Beach, California 90266

​​Tel: (310) 545-7878
Connect With Us 
  • Home
  • Practice Areas
    • Estate Planning
    • Probate
    • Elder Law
    • Business Planning
    • Pet Trusts
  • Blog
  • Meet Our Staff
  • Pay Online
  • Contact