The late comedian Robin Williams’ children donated some of his favorite bicycles to raise money for charities that he supported.
When Robin Williams passed away most experts expected that his estate would go smoothly. It appeared the comedian had done all of his estate planning correctly. He provided for both his wife and his children from a different marriage.
However, things did not turn out so well.
Ambiguities in some of his plans led to a dispute between the children and their stepmother about who was to receive some of Williams’ personal property. That dispute was eventually resolved and it appears his children were not acting for purely selfish reasons. They recently donated some of Williams’ bicycles to a charity auction that raised $600,000 for two of his favorite charities.
The story was picked up by TMZ in “Robin Williams Fave Bicycles Are Gold… Haul in over $600K For Charity.”
It is always good to see a difficult estate end well, especially if one of the results is that well-deserving charities receive funding. However, there is still a lesson to be learned from Robin Williams’ estate, which is that it is extremely important to be as clear as possible in an estate plan.
Any possible dispute should be anticipated, especially for people in blended families.
To find out how to avoid disputes over your estate contact an estate planning attorney and discuss your options. An attorney can help craft an estate plan that takes your unique family situation into account.
Reference: TMZ (Oct. 27, 2016) “Robin Williams Fave Bicycles Are Gold… Haul in over $600K For Charity.”