7 biggest celebrity estate planning lessons of 2014
![After news of Robin Williams' death at age 63 hit the web, it didn't take long for <a href=](https://s32566.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/FREE_122909999_PH_6_BDHBKZWBEZSV.jpg.optimal.jpg)
Radar Online posted a pair of documents, a 35-pager concerning an irrevocable trust the comedian had set up for the three children in 2009 and a 1989 irrevocable trust set up for his eldest son. Mr. Williams' publicist, Mara Buxbaum, noted that these are two old irrevocable insurance trusts that are not part of the actor's current estate or estate plan.
Lesson: The glaring issue here is that trust documents are supposed to be private. The advantage that trusts have over a will is that a will goes through probate court, where it's in the public domain.
The courts — and the public disclosure of the trusts — could have been avoided with a little more planning. Enter the use of trust protectors: an attorney, accountant or even a trusted friend who has the power to appoint or remove a trustee. Another way to keep a trust out of the newspapers: blind trusts. Generally, trusts are named for the people who are setting them up. True to their name, blind trusts give trustees — ideally, not a family member — full discretion over the assets within. The biggest benefit: It's very hard for the public to trace the trust back to the person who owns it." />
After news of Robin Williams' death at age 63 hit the web, it didn't take long for details of the trust documents he had set up for his three children — Zachary, 31; Zelda, 25 and Cody, 22 — to wind up in numerous tabloids and gossip websites.
Radar Online posted a pair of documents, a 35-pager concerning an irrevocable trust the comedian had set up for the three children in 2009 and a 1989 irrevocable trust set up for his eldest son. Mr. Williams' publicist, Mara Buxbaum, noted that these are two old irrevocable insurance trusts that are not part of the actor's current estate or estate plan.
Lesson: The glaring issue here is that trust documents are supposed to be private. The advantage that trusts have over a will is that a will goes through probate court, where it's in the public domain.
The courts — and the public disclosure of the trusts — could have been avoided with a little more planning. Enter the use of trust protectors: an attorney, accountant or even a trusted friend who has the power to appoint or remove a trustee. Another way to keep a trust out of the newspapers: blind trusts. Generally, trusts are named for the people who are setting them up. True to their name, blind trusts give trustees — ideally, not a family member — full discretion over the assets within. The biggest benefit: It's very hard for the public to trace the trust back to the person who owns it.