Many people probably remember Actor Luke Perry from his years on the teen drama Beverly Hills 90210. His fans and supporters, needless to say his personal friends and loved ones, were likely shocked and saddened by his recent death brought on by a series of strokes.
As one media outlet reported, the actor’s family ultimately decided that he should be removed from life support, which he had been on since suffering a massive stroke at the age of 52.
While the details of his estate plan are obviously not public at this time, it was likely that he had expressed his wishes through some sort of advance directive, like a living will, or had duly appointed someone to make medical decisions for him.
Likewise, sources indicated that Mr. Perry had at least made a will a few years back. Given he is reportedly worth about $10 million, he likely needed a more complicated estate plan, which could have included the use of one or more trusts.
There are some open questions about Mr. Perry’s estate. In addition to two children and other relatives, the man left behind a fiancée. Under California law, the woman is not entitled to automatically inherit anything from Mr. Perry because the two had not married. If he wanted to leave anything to her, he would have had to use a specific estate plan to do so.
On the whole, though, Mr. Perry’s case illustrates the importance of doing the proper estate planning, even while one is still well within his or her working years and has no signs of ill health. A detailed estate plan, which can truly be a blessing for Redding, California, families, can be created with the help of an experienced attorney.