MN Estate Planning | Paul Walkers Estate Plan Provides Many Lessons - Minnesota Estate Planning and Probate Law

Perhaps best known for starring in The Fast and Furious movie franchise, Paul Walkers fame was still on the rise when he passed away suddenly at the age of 40 in November of 2013.

News reports indicate that Walker was killed while riding as a passenger in a friends Porsche being driven at close to 100 miles per hour. The driver apparently lost control of the vehicle before slamming into a tree.

Fortunately for Mr. Walkers family, he had already had a Will drafted back when he was still in his late 20s. Since its still rather uncommon for many young people to begin planning an estate at such a young age, Mr. Walkers approach should set a good example for many who often mistakenly think that only much older people ever have to worry about death.

Walkers Chief Beneficiary

While all of the precise terms of the revocable trust he created for the sole benefit of his daughter Meadow remain unknown, Walker was wise to include a pour-over-will in his estate plan.

By doing so, he was able to keep certain aspects of his arrangements private. Although Mr. Walker made a number of positive choices when creating his estate plan, it could have benefitted many others he cared about if he had revised it during the decade preceding his death.

Ways Walker Might Have Improved Upon His Estate Plan by Updating It

He could have decreased future tax burdens. Between the drafting of the first Will when Walker was only 28 years old and his death at age 40, his financial fortunes increased so dramatically that he had assets [worth] about $25 million dollars. As Forbes noted, Twenty-five million dollars is well over the federal estate tax threshold;
His estate would have benefitted from being fully funded during his lifetime. Its a bit hard to fault this young man for not having transferred [all of his assets] into the name of the trust during [his] lifetime. After all, few people near his age would have fully completed that process by the age of forty. However, had Walker updated his Will during more recent years, far more estate details could have remained private;
He could have provided for his long-time girlfriend. Jasmine Gosnell had been dating Mr. Walker for about seven years prior to his death. The two apparently planned to marry one day. A more recent update of his will would have allowed Walker to have at least left her a joint bank account or life insurance policy.

Conclusions

Overall, Mr. Walker did a better job of estate planning that many fairly young people. He not only created a revocable trust to benefit his daughter, he also named a guardian to manage her funds in case he passed away early. He also avoided a probate administration by doing this.

His only major oversight was failing to update his Will in keeping with his much greater wealth and change in one or two key relationships.