In August, actress Anne Heche passed away suddenly at the age of 53 after succumbing to injuries she sustained following a horrific car crash in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles. Anne Heche was best known for her roles in a variety of movies and television shows, including Donnie Brasco (alongside Johnny Depp), Six Days Seven Nights (alongside Harrison Ford), and Men in Trees.
Another Reminder of the Importance of Estate Planning
This is just one of many stories out there about people passing away without proper estate planning. Many people put off estate planning, thinking that it’s something they do not need to think about until they are much older or diagnosed with a terminal illness. Unfortunately, the sad truth is, we just don’t know when something may happen to us. Dying without any estate plan at all means that you are leaving your loved ones to figure this out on their own and they may be governed by the Court’s decisions, which may not reflect what you want.
Heche is now added to the long list of well-known celebrities who have failed to properly do estate planning (see our article “Celebrity Estate Planning Horror Stories”). You may be thinking “Okay, I get that rich celebrities should get their estate planning in order, but I’ve got a much smaller estate!” What you may not realize is that, even the most modest of estates can experience the same kind of unintended, expensive, and stressful outcomes as did these celebrities. In fact, one may argue that it might be even more important to properly preserve, maintain and distribute the hard-earned assets of everyday individuals whose loved ones may depend on them!
Sources: Fox, Red Carpet Report
