November 20, 2018

Stan Lee recently passed away and details show that his tangled estate planning could be a complicated web for heirs to navigate. Unfortunately, far too many celebrity deaths paint a picture of just how devastating it can be when estate planning is not managed appropriately. The co-creator of super heroes, such as Spiderman and Captain America, left behind a huge mess for his prospective heirs despite the fact that he was ill over the last year of his life. 

Stan Lee’s life had unraveled in the last few years before his passing, highlighting the dangers of elder financial abuse. Plenty of scams and unscrupulous people target the elderly, and often, the aging person finds out about it too late. It could even be family members who realize that the assets amassed over a lifetime are now gone thanks to fraud.

Estate planning tools could be used to ward off this possibility, but only when the person takes the time and care to meet with a trusted lawyer.

In other recent events prior to Stan Lee’s passing, he alleged that $850,000 of his money was stolen to purchase a condo. He also alleged that that was part of a greater $1.4 million that went missing from his bank accounts. For most people, estate planning is a relatively straightforward process. It can certainly be emotional, however, to consider your own passing or how to plan for your own incapacitation.

Monitoring and maintaining a plan can become even more complex as an individual ages, especially if that person is also linked to cognitive decline. The creation of documents and the timing surrounding this can have important implications over whether or not the courts view these documents as legally valid. If you want to protect yourself from some of the problems that Stan Lee faced in life, including the possibility of elder abuse, having appropriate powers of attorney can go a long way towards minimizing your concerns.