This is Mike Hackard from Hackard Law in Mather,
California.
Anthony Bourdain was a celebrity chef who
lived on the edge.
When he took his own life on June 8, 2018,
at the age of 61, he was known worldwide as
the original rock star of the culinary world
who had written best-selling books, hosted
several award-winning television series, and
created a reputation as the “culinary bad
boy.”
According to some reports, Bourdain’s net
worth as much as $16 million at the time of
his death, but only $1.2 million of that was
itemized in Probate Court documents.
Royalties, residuals, and image rights are
not included in any documents, so the actual
numbers are unlikely to ever become public.
Despite what appeared to be some serious planning
to take care of his family after his death,
Bourdain’s estate had a few glaring problems.
For starters, the divorce from his second
wife, Ottavia Busia-Bourdain with whom he
had an 11-year old daughter name Ariane, was
never finalized.
Ottavia was named the executor of his estate
and received his personal effects, books,
and frequent flier miles, but she was otherwise
excluded from his will.
Bourdain apparently wanted to leave most of
his wealth to his daughter, for whom he set
up a testamentary trust that is set to distribute
assets to her when she turns 25, 30, and 35.
Because of the way it was set up, the trust
documents became public, and the trust itself
is being administered by a court-appointed
guardian.
Because Bourdain’s divorce was never finalized,
Ottavia may at some point elect to receive
a share of those trust assets.
While there are far worse problems estates
can encounter, there were better ways Bourdain
could have structured his plan.
For example, he could have set up a discretionary
trust for his daughter’s life that would
have given her greater flexibility to receive
distributions and possibly shielded her assets
from future creditors.
That kind of trust, along with other related
tools, might have avoided his will going to
probate in the first place – something I
generally advise all of our clients.
Before you go, please let me know if you’d
like to receive a free copy of my first book,
The Wolf at the Door, or my new book, Alzheimer’s,
Widowed Stepmothers & Estate Crimes.
Just send your address in an email to me at
hackard@hackardlaw.com, and I’ll be glad
to put one in the mail.
I’m Mike Hackard from Hackard Law.
Thanks for watching.
