Stan Lee and Marvel May Both Venture Into Estate Planning Litigation

Marvel Comics rebooted its popular series Guardians of the Galaxy, and like many comic books, the authors have taken readers on a wild ride. Writer Donny Cates has teased that the series’ first story continues the plot from Infinity Wars’ Thanos Legacy, which closed as Eros, brother of the Mad Titan, cuts a last will and testament out of Thanos’s dead body. Comic book (and trusts and estates) fans cannot wait for the reading of the document.

Thanos is not the first person to have relatives and others show up near the end of the life and start trouble. Eerily, the father of Marvel, Stan Lee, has mirrored issues in his own life at 95 years old. Lee’s estate is estimated to be worth anywhere from $50 million to $70 million and is at the center of litigation between himself, family, lawyers, and other advisors.

Despite Stan Lee’s genius, success, and wealth, he is another example of an aging individual susceptible to the undue influence of others. The issues did not come to a head until after the passing of his wife of almost 70 years, Joan, which may have left him emotionally and physically vulnerable to others. The outcome so far has been legal wedges between Lee’s former attorney, Thomas Lallas and a restraining order against a former manager, Keya Morgan. Lee has even recorded himself placing his personal allegiances and uploading the video to social media.

See Cori A. Robinson, Parallel Universes: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and Stan Lee Venture Into Estates-and-Trusts Litigation, Above the Law, October 2, 2018.

Special thanks to Carissa Peterson (Hrbacek Law Firm, Sugar Land, Texas) for bringing this article to my attention.