Legal Gaga — Tax planning and asset protection strategies for celebrities

K. Eli Akhavan (attorney at Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone, LLP in Long Island, N.Y.) has recently published his article entitled Legal Gaga — Tax planning and asset protection strategies for celebrities, Trusts & Estates, Feb. 2012, at 22.

Here is the introduction to his interesting article:

Ultra high-net-worth entertainers, film and television personalities and professional athletes (celebrities) require specialized estate and asset protection planning. In the past year, the media has been inundated with stories about the commercial and familial disputes in the entertainment and professional sports industries. We’re all too familiar with the business confrontation between Charlie Sheen and CBS/Warner Bros., the high profile divorces of Frank and Jamie McCourt (and the impact on the ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers), Arnold and Maria Schwarzenegger, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez and of course, Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian. This plethora of tabloid fodder highlights the importance of estate and asset protection planning for celebrities.

Here’s a primer to inform celebrities’ legal and financial entourage on the planning issues confronting celebrities and to help advisors to celebrities be as creative as their clients.