It is always especially sad to hear about someone passing away at a young age, and this was the case with the singer Amy Winehouse. The British songstress died last July at the age of 27, joining the ranks of music stars like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain who passed on at the same age.
At the time the British tabloids were reporting that Amy Winehouse had a last will in place that excluded her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, an individual who is serving prison time. She was said to have an estate estimated at $16 million in value that would be going to her older brother Alex and her divorced parents Mitch and Janis.
Now we are hearing via Forbes that these early reports were in fact untrue. Amy Winehouse died intestate according to probate records that have become available. This means that she died without a will and according to the laws of succession her parents will be the sole heirs to her estate, which wound up being comprised of $4.66 million worth of assets after expenses were paid according to the Forbes piece.
Regardless of your age it is important to have an estate plan in place, especially if you have considerable means. Even if Amy Winehouse would have wanted her parents to inherit all of her fortune (which is questionable) it is possible that steps could have been taken to preserve more of her wealth.
If you are currently going through life without an estate plan, you may want to learn from this story and take action right now to set up an appointment with a good South Carolina estate planning lawyer to make your wishes known.
John Kuhn, Estate Planning Attorney
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