The sudden and unexpected death of Glee star Cory Monteith provides an example of the importance of young adults not putting off estate planning, especially having a will. Resolution of Monteith’s estate was delayed for a year-and-a-half due to complications over whether an exception was warranted to the general intestate rule that his parents would inherit from his $810,000 estate equally. The issue is seemingly resolved by his father stating that he does not wish to inherit anything from his son’s estate, but not before he signed a document that stated he did not have communication with his son for many years and did not pay child support. Monteith’s father later claimed that he did not know what the document said and that it was untrue. If Monteith had a will, the public blame game and finger pointing by his parents, who each accused each other for his father’s absence in his life and argued over whether that attributed to the young star’s death, may have been avoided.
See Danielle Mayoras & Andy Mayoras, Cory Monteith Shows How Even Young Adults Need Wills, Forbes, Jan. 28, 2015.
