Important Reminders from Anna Nicole Smith
The Anna Nicole Smith show completed its run in a Florida Probate Court last week to mixed reviews. The general opinion among legal practitioners, myself included, is it was an exercise in theatrics with maybe five minutes of meaningful legal proceedings. Among the public, some people enjoyed the “People’s Court” type of atmosphere while others were disillusioned with what they saw from the judge and the attorneys involved in a sensitive family issue. Right or wrong, it was certainly an event we can learn from.
Let’s review some of the things we learned through testimony at the hearings. We learned about Anna’s drug use. We learned about Anna’s sex life. We learned a lot of personal things about Anna and the other parties involved in the matter. After the media circus began, who remembered what the purpose of the hearing was? The sole purpose of the hearing was to determine who would receive custody of Anna’s body and as a result determine where she would be buried. Did any of the scandalous testimony the court entertained and displayed in public proceedings have anything to do with who had the legal right to custody of Anna’s body? No, it did not.
What if it was your family that became embroiled in a dispute that was to be settled in Probate Court? Remember, you’re not around to settle the dispute because you are deceased or disabled. Any entertainment taken from the Anna Nicole Smith hearings quickly disappears when we stop to think if it was our family having every can of irrelevant worms opened up in public Probate Court hearings. Our hearings may not be on television, but the pain and distress is still real during an already difficult and private time.
So what did we learn? Take charge of our estate plans and provide some stability for our families in the event of our death or disability. A clear estate plan can document your wishes and in many cases significantly limit the Court’s involvement in your family’s affairs. If you leave unanswered questions with your plan or if you have no plan, you are inviting the Court’s involvement to answer those questions.
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