Anna Nicole Smith: A legacy of not planning for the future

There is an Associated Press article on Law.com about the mess that Anna Nicole Smith left behind for her estate. In addition to the paternity suits, DNA tests and jurisdictional wars between the Bahamas and the U.S., there is also the highly personal tragedy of an infant daughter who will never know her mother.  This tragedy, and the uniqueness of Smith’s life underscores the need for proper and up-to-date estate planning.

The AP article points out the potential problems that may exist for Smith’s estate.  Here is an extended quote:

If Smith left no will, and if she and Stern were not married, then the baby’s father and child likely would split her assets, according to Christopher Cline, an estate-planning lawyer with the firm of Holland and Knight.

“It’s a really large legal quagmire,” Cline said.

If there was a will, questions would arise about where it was drafted and signed. If she did not have a will, the laws of her country of residence would apply.

Smith had been living in the Bahamas recently and gave birth to her daughter there in September.

It also was not clear how her death affects the lawsuit still pending against her late husband’s estate. Experts in Texas, where Smith fought for millions of dollars in inheritance, said the court battles will go on.

“The claims will survive to her estate,” said Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes, a South Texas College of Law professor who has followed the complicated series of lawsuits involving Smith and the family of her dead husband.

For a few hours time and for a few thousand dollars, Smith could have completely eliminated all this confusion and the enormous litigation that will no doubt follow.  She could have saved her estate potentially millions of dollars.  Hopefully, we will find out that she did just that.

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