The big story this month is all of the family drama surrounding Brooke Hogan, Sky Daily and Hulk Hogan’s estate. Also, a short update on the ongoing, contentious guardianship of Wendy Williams.
Brooke Hogan’s disinheritance
Wrestling star Hulk Hogan died at the age of 71 late, last month. Sources estimate his estate is worth about $25 million. Hulk Hogan’s wife, Sky Daily Hogan and his estranged daughter, Brooke Hogan, survived him. We actually don’t know much about his estate plan or the beneficiaries. Regardless, the estate has been getting some attention. In 2023 Brooke asked her father’s estate planner to be disinherited. Per TMZ’s reporting, Brooke still remained a beneficiary of a life insurance trust Hogan executed but will receive nothing else.
If you’re curious about whether a child can disinherit themselves from their parent’s will, the answer is no. An estate planning attorney should only be listening to their client- not their client’s children. If a child truly wants their parent to disinherit them (which is rare), the child and parent should discuss that. The parent can consider their child’s viewpoint. Ultimately though, if the parent decides the child should be a beneficiary, the child should be. It’s about the parent’s wishes, not the child’s.
What if the child doesn’t want the money? In Arizona, the child can disclaim their interest on the death of the parent, or whenever the document giving them the interest becomes irrevocable. In summary, a child can’t disinherit themself from a parent’s estate plan during their parent’s lifetime. They can disclaim their interest later; usually once the parent has died.
What about Sky Daily Hogan?
This is not the only drama related to the Hogan estate. There has also been some talk about what share Sky, Hulk Hogan’s surviving spouse, will receive. Hulk and Sky married two years before he died, well after he amassed his fortune. Under Florida law, a surviving spouse may be entitled to up to 30% of the estate even if the deceased spouse never got around to updating the estate plan to include them. This is true even if the marriage occurred after the deceased spouse amassed their fortune.
How would this play out in Arizona? Well, Arizona is a community property state. This means that each spouse owns 50% of the assets acquired during a marriage with a few notable exceptions. The exception that would have the most impact here- assets acquired prior to the marriage are not community property. Instead, they are a person’s separate property. The assumption that most married couples amass their wealth during their marriage (and therefore have majority community property) is baked into our statutes surrounding what spouses are entitled to inherit. As a result, it is relatively easy to make sure a surviving spouse doesn’t get much of your estate when you marry later in life.
If Hulk Hogan were in Arizona, he would have very little community property. All of the assets he acquired prior to the marriage would remain his separate property. Sky would be entitled to half of the community property acquired during the marriage. But, that would likely be a much smaller amount than the 30% of everything she would receive under Florida law. If Sky and Hulk signed a valid pre-nup or post- nup agreement, she could be entitled to even less.
What else could she be entitled to? About $37,000. A surviving spouse is entitled to three, small sums under Arizona law, even if the spouse is not included in the estate plan. Arizona law describes the sum in three different statutes and they total up to $37,000. This is likely a far cry from 30% of $25 million.
Wendy Williams’s guardianship
If you’ve been reading our end of the month newsletters, you are probably familiar with the Wendy Williams’s guardianship case. Wendy Williams has been under guardianship since May of 2022. Over the last three years, Williams the guardianship has been contentious, with calls from Williams to have it terminated. Amidst these calls, a doctor performed a new medical examination that confirms her dementia diagnosis and purportedly supports the guardianship.
Other Stuff
- Bomi Bulsara (Freddie Mercury’s father) died in 2003. His will includes a provision disinheriting any illegitimate children Freddie Mercury may have had. Some are saying that this provision supports the controversial theory that the star had a secret daughter.
- Clients often focus on the disposition of assets in their estate plan. This article talks about how to prioritize your own well-being, philanthropy and lifestyle in your estate plan.
- An article out of University of Alabama discusses a possible framework for governance of AI “deadbots”. Deadbots are AI-powered, virtual, reanimations of deceased loved ones and celebrities.
- It’s back to school time! If you have an adult kiddo (an oxymoron, I know) going off to college consider having them execute these five documents.
- Changes are coming to Silver Alerts next month.
