Roger Ebert’s Estate: Two Thumbs Up for Two Lessons to Learn

Earlier this month, Roger Ebert passed away at the age of 70 after a long battle with cancer. As with most famous estates, there is always a lesson to be learned.

JD Supra points out one of the main lessons from Ebert’s estate: heed warnings.  Many times, it takes a health scare from a friend or family member to jump start your estate planning.  Make sure that you treat these events as wake up calls and use them to motivate you to get your affairs in order.  For Ebert, his warning came when his co-host, Gene Siskel, died in 1999 from a brain tumor. The key aspect of a quality estate plan is to have it in order before it is needed.

Another lesson Ebert’s estate teaches us is to protect a legacy. In 2006, due to the cancer, Ebert lost his jaw and his ability to speak.  Although Ebert could no longer speak, he continued to review movies through the internet and print media.

See Evan Guthrie Law Firm, Estate Planning: Lessons Learned From Roger Ebert, JDSupra, Apr. 4, 2013.