How Michael Jackson Could Have Avoided His Estate’s IRS Battle

As I have previously discussed, the executors of the Jackson estate claim that it is worth only $7 million while the IRS is claiming it is worth $1.125 billion. How could this heated battle over estate tax have been avoided? The following are three ways for celebrities to avoid estate pitfalls:

• Have all assets appraised well and often
• Don’t forget about the right of publicity as an asset
• Have multiple backup beneficiaries

See Joseph R. Perone, Celebrity Estate Pitfalls, Private Wealth, May 9, 2014.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.