Failure To Plan

Laws of Intestacy
Estate Shrinkage

Laws of Intestacy

If there is no Will, the Court will distribute your assets according to the laws of intestacy. Under Wisconsin intestacy laws, all property will pass to a surviving spouse if either (1) you leave no children, or (2) all of your children are also children of your spouse. If you leave children that are not the children of your spouse, one-half (1/2) of your individual property will go to those children. Also, a minor child will take control of his/her share at age 18 regardless of ability to manage funds.

Estate Shrinkage

Failure to properly plan can result in a substantial reduction in the size of the estate passing to your beneficiaries. The following estates could likely have saved significant amounts with proper planning. (The figures below would be different under current law.)

Figures From Some Celebrity Estates

Name	Gross Estate	Total Settlement Costs	Net Estate	Percent Shrinkage
W.C. Fields	884,680	329,793	554,887	37%
Dixie Crosby	1,332,571	781,953	550,618	59%
Franklin D. Roosevelt	1,940,999	574,867	1,366,132	30%
Humphrey Bogart	910,146	274,234	635,912	30%
Clark Gable	2,806,526	1,101,038	1,705,488	30%
Henry J. Kaiser, Sr.	5,597,772	2,488,364	3,109,408	44%
Al Jolson	4,385,143	1,349,066	3,036,077	31%
Gary Cooper	4,984,143	1,349,066	3,036,077	31%
Myford Irvine	13,445,552	6,012,685	7,432,867	45%
Walt Disney	23,004,851	6,811,943	16,192,908	30%
William E. Boeing	22,386,158	10,589,748	11,796,410	47%
Hedda Hopper	472,661	165,982	306,679	35%
Marilyn Monroe	819,176	448,750	370,426	55%
Erle Stanley Gardner	1,795,092	636,705	1,158,387	35%
Cecil B. DeMille	4,043,607	1,396,064	2,647,543	35%
Elvis Presley	10,165,434	7,374,635	2,790,799	73%
J.P. Morgan	17,121,482	11,893,691	5,227,791	69%
John D. Rockefeller, Sr.	26,905,182	17,124,988	9,780,194	64%
Alwin C. Ernst, CPA	12,642,431	7,124,112	5,518,319	56%
Frederick Vanderbilt	76,838,530	42,846,112	33,992,418	56%
Howard Gould	67,535,386	52,549,682	14,985,704	78%