The Probate Lawyer Blog

Amanda Bynes' Comeback Could Begin With A Guardianship

Amanda Bynes came into the public eye as one of Nickelodeon’s sweethearts.  Now friends and colleagues are so worried about her recent  erratic behavior that they have been begging for police intervention. Her former publicist, Jonathan Jaxson, tweeted: “I just spoke to @AmandaBynes and she is soooo messed up on drugs and please @NY POLICE find her and help her! I don’t know her address!”  

Jenny McCarthy then tweeted, “Police are at @AmandaBynes house. I hope they get her help. Enough of this circus. She needs help.”

Just over a year ago, Amanda Bynes started down a path that many probably could not foresee. It started with being charged with driving under the influence last year after she hit a police car when she was talking on her cell phone. After that, she was charged with two more hit and run accidents, which were later dismissed. Since then, her behavior has seemed to get more bizarre and erratic by the month.

  More recently, she tweeted to R&B/hip-hop artist Drake that she wants him to “murder her vagina.” Bynes has also been busy posting numerous pictures of herself topless and in lingerie. Then, she went as far as to shave half of her head. You can follow her twitter activity here.

The Controversy of Arturo Gatti's Death May Never End

Arturo Gatti, the former world-champion boxer, died violently while on vacation in Brazil, in 2009.  His wife, Amanda Rodrigues Gatti, was arrested for murder, only to be released after the police ruled the death a suicide.  Now, almost four years later, Brazilian authorities have re-opened the investigation and the case may soon return to court.  

It’s the latest chapter in a long line of legal struggles that started after Arturo Gatti’s death.  Gatti’s mother, brother, and the mother of his first child have always believed that Rodrigues was responsible for his death.  Gatti was found strangled by Rodrigues’ purse strap, and she reportedly was in the room with his body for ten hours without realizing he was dead.

Rodrigues has consistently maintained that Gatti committed suicide.  She points out that autopsies have been done in both Brazil and Montreal — where the couple lived — and both determined that Gatti killed himself.

Court Scolds SC Attorney General For Hijacking James Brown Estate

The battle over the estate of the Godfather of Soul started not long after James Brown died of heart failure and pneumonia on Christmas Day, 2006, at the age of 73.  Now, more than six years later, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that may finally lay the epic feud to rest.  

James Brown, February 1973, Musikhalle, Hamburg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Brown left behind a detailed will and trust, dated August 1, 2000.  He wanted his personal and household effects divided between six adult children, the sum of two million dollars set aside in trust to pay for the education of his grandchildren, with the rest passing into a charitable trust.  Specifically, he directed that the majority of his assets would be used to pay education expenses and assistance to benefit poor children and young adults who attended schools in either South Carolina or Georgia.

Brown was both physically and mentally strong when he signed his estate planning documents.  His legal documents included clear instructions that he did not want anyone else to benefit, including past or future spouses, or others who may or may not be his children.  He directed his trustees to vigorously fight anyone who contested his wishes, and he considered any type of legal challenge to the validity of the documents as an affront to his wishes.

Duke Heirs Caught In Billion-Dollar Fortune Battle

How many people would jump at the chance to trade places with 15-year-old twins who stand to inherit one billion dollars in six years?  Don’t raise your hands too fast.  

Doris Duke

Georgia Inman and Walker Patterson Inman III would seemingly have a charmed life, being the only living heirs to the Duke family fortune.  That’s right — Duke, as in Doris Duke, Duke University, and Duke EnergyCorporation.Yet Georgia and Walker were recently suspended from a private school in Utah for about $25,000 in unpaid tuition and late fees.  Perhaps one billion dollars doesn’t buy as much as it used to.

The sad reality is that Georgia and Walker have spent most of their lives caught in the middle of various legal battles. Their mother is Daisha Inman, who now has custody of them.  She’s been battling in court against JPMorgan Chase for the last several months over the twins’ trust funds.

The twins’ late father, Walker P. Inman, Jr., was Doris Duke’s nephew.  During his divorce proceedings with Daisha, he reported to a court that Georgia and Walker would inherit around one billion dollars when they turn 21.

Unsolved Murder of Chicago Lottery Winner Sparks Family Feud

Chicago businessman Urooj Khan jumped for joy when he learned he had the winning numbers for a million-dollar lottery drawing last summer.  Too bad he never had a chance to enjoy it.  He was murdered days before he was going to receive the $425,000 lump-sum, after-tax winnings.  

Originally, the 46-year-old's death was ruled natural, due to hardening of the arteries.  Later a family member -- unidentified so far -- raised suspicions with the police that led to testing blood and tissue samples.  The results came back positive for cyanide.  Police reclassified the death as a homicide.

Khan's body was recently exhumed, several months after he was originally buried, so more testing could be done to help police learn more about his cause of death.  So far, they haven't named a suspect.  However, Khan's brother isn't waiting for the police to do so.  He's already spoken out.

When Will Britney Spears Be Free Of Conservatorship?

The Britney Spears conservatorship saga has nearly reached its fifth year anniversary.  We all remember her shaved head, public meltdowns, and wild paparazzi photographs.  Her career, her relationship with her children, and even her life were all spinning dangerously out of control.  

Compare that to her life now, five years later.  Thirty-one-year-old Britney looks a great deal different from twenty-six-year-old Britney.  She was just paid $15 million for one season’s work as a judge on the X Factor.  Was she the best judge around?  That’s debatable.  There were reports that Simon Cowell wouldn’t have her back for another season, but it was Britney’s decision to leave X-Factor.

Either way, there’s no debate that Britney seemed … well, very normal.  She was mature, composed, even graceful at times. She mentored teenage singers.  She held herself together and gave constructive feedback.  Britney was reportedly re-energized by the experience and is ready to start releasing new music and touring again.

What thirty-one-year-old Britney doesn’t look like is someone who is legally incompetent, unable to make decisions about her own life.

Jenni Rivera's Estate Heading For Turmoil

Jenni Rivera was a singer-songwriter, actress and Telemundo TV star who died tragically on December 9, 2012 in a plane crash in Mexico.  While well-known to fans of Latino music and Mexican TV, Rivera appeared poised to breakthrough to mainstream America due to a new TV show she was set to star in for ABC. 

The 43-year old Rivera lived a turbulent life.  She had her first child at age 15 and then married the father.  They had two more children together, but it was a marriage of abuse and molestation.  After the divorce, Rivera’s first husband was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in jail for child molestation.

Rivera married twice more and had two more children from her second marriage.  Her third marriage, to professional baseball player Esteban Loaiza, also was ending.  The couple filed for divorce on October 1, 2012, citing irreconcilable differences.   There was a report that Rivera and her eldest daughter had been fighting because the daughter had an affair with Loaiza, but it’s a report that the daughter strenuously refuted.