Dr. King's Legacy Is Tarnished by His Family, Once Again
As I was reading the latest news on yet another feud between the three living children of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, I couldn't help but think: is this feud he and his wife Coretta, could have ever imagined happening to their legacy and estate?
Giving the historical speeches on peace and togetherness, it is a sad commentary that his family has become so litigious, and as David J. Garrow, "a Pulitzer Price-winning biographer of Dr. King" puts it in the article, "Unfortunately, all of the children seem to regard their father's legacy as first and foremost an income maximization opportunity for themselves." Also from the article, An attorney for King Inc., L. Lin Wood said essentially that some of the children "are engaged in what can fairly be described as self-destructive behavior. It's a scorched-earth policy. And unfortunately they've tarnished the legacy of Dr. King."
The latest battle involves the estate of Coretta Scott King, Dr. King's wife who passed away in 2006. Reportedly there is a $1.4 million book deal with the Penguin Group at risk. Previously the battle between the children was over the control of their father's estate, that of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.
And even though issues of these various feuds are a bit different--one is over whether Coretta Scott really wished to include personal letters in a potential upcoming book and another one is over the mismanagement of Dr. Martin Luther King's estate--the real issues here are over various views the children have regarding the wishes of their parents. Without adequate and specific instructions left by Corretta, the children are now using their own recollections and opinions about what should be done regarding the book deal. And to make matters worse they disagree.
Many times people think they don't need to worry about estate planning because they believe their family can work things out. The thought is something like this: "Let them deal with it, they'll do just fine--their all family." However, if there is no estate plan in place, then distributions can degrade into costly lawsuits, or even worse--physical shoving matches.
The best policy is to be specific with your distributions to loved ones. And if appropriate, include instructions on how you would want anything else handled after you are gone.
Also, when it comes to setting up Trustees for a trust, in addition to family members you can include a third party trustee, or a corporate fiduciary trustee. A trustmaker should be extremely selective in selecting a third-party trustee, but they can be helpful when the situations between loved ones are tense when you are still alive--and they will probably get much worse after you are gone.
