As I have previously discussed, the Estate of James Brown has beendragged through a serious legal battle. The dispute came about when Brown’sspouse and children learned that Brown’s will and irrevocable trust was beingleft to charity. The family members went to court to set aside the will andattempted to have the estate divided according to the intestate successionrules. The Attorney General at the time conducted a settlement negotiation andwas successful. The personal representatives of the estate and trustees of thetrust were upset to find that half of the estate was being divided to thosechallenging the will and trust. As a result, the personal representatives andthe trustees challenged the settlement agreement. Eventually, the South CarolinaSupreme Court overturned the settlement due to lack of evidence proving thatBrown would not have excluded his family in the distribution of his estate andinstructed that fiduciaries be appointed to carry out the originalinstructions.
See Nonprofit Blogger, South Carolina Supreme Court Rejects AG Negotiated Resolution of James Brown Estate Dispute, Law Professor Blog Network, Sep. 19, 2013.
Special thanks to Susan Gary (Professor at Law, University of Oregon School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
