Wills

The posthumous affairs of Michael Jackson boiled down to two things Tuesday: His memorial service will draw a huge crowd and the settling of his estate will be complicated. Beyond that was a storm of rumor, supposition and educated guess interrupted by snatches of information more intriguing than complete. An entertainment attorney who had worked for Jackson produced a 7-year-old will that named him and a music executive as executors.

Chas Rampenthal expects to get more business in the wake of Michael Jackson's death, but he doesn't peddle CDs, posters or celebrity memorabilia. Rampenthal sells online wills. And as general counsel of LegalZoom.com, he noticed a sharp uptick in demand when model Anna Nicole Smith died in 2007, triggering a messy battle over her estate. "All that publicity reminded people they should have an up-to-date will," he said. The same could happen as Jackson's estate gets sorted out.

Although Erla Feinberg's final act might have disappointed most of her grandchildren, it carried out her late husband's dying wish in a way that held up in court. In a unanimous decision, the Illinois Supreme Court this week ruled that Max Feinberg and his wife could legally disinherit any grandchildren who married outside the Jewish faith as long as the method of doing so did not encourage divorce. "Although those plans might be offensive to individual family members or to outside observers, Max and Erla were free to distribute their bounty as they saw fit and to favor grandchildren of whose life choices they approved," Justice Rita Garman wrote.

Shortly before Christmas 2002, Ray Charles called a meeting of his 12 children at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport. Ten of them, ranging in age from 16 to 50 -- with 10 mothers among them -- listened as their father told them he was mortally ill and outlined what they could expect from his fortune. Most of Charles' assets would be left to his charitable foundation.

Several of Ray Charles' children called Sunday for an investigation of the management of the late entertainer's estate, including a charitable foundation he set up and a profit-making company that manages rights to his music. There are "many unanswered questions," said Lisa Nkonoki, a spokeswoman for family members. The dispute over Charles' musical and financial legacy was the subject of an article in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.

Executors of Marlon Brando's estate have agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by his former personal assistant alleging that they forged the late film legend's will, according to court documents. Angela Borlaza, also known as Evelyn Magaling, said the 80-year-old Brando was too ill in the days before his death to amend his will to make Hollywood producer Mike Medavoy and Larry J. Dressler, Medavoy's brother-in-law, coexecutors.

When a modestliving man named Hector Guy Di Stefano died last summer at age 90, he surprised everybody by leaving a $264-million estate to be divided equally among eight charities. What happened next between two beneficiaries, however, was less charitable: The Salvation Army sued, saying Greenpeace wasn't entitled to a share of the fortune.

A court commissioner admitted Anna Nicole Smith's will to probate Tuesday, naming Larry Birkhead the estate's guardian and Howard K. Stern the will's executor. Smith gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn, five months before her death at age 39. Her son and heir, Daniel, died just after the baby was born. Stern, her lawyer and companion, initially claimed to be Dannielynn's father. But a paternity claim by Birkhead, Smith's ex-boyfriend, eventually prevailed.

Leona Helmsley's dog will continue to live an opulent life, and then be buried alongside her in a mausoleum. But two of Helmsley's grandchildren got nothing from the late luxury hotelier and real estate billionaire's estate. Helmsley left her beloved Maltese, named Trouble, a $12-million trust fund, according to her will, which was made public in surrogate court.

It wasn't until after Eleanor Barkelew got married a second time that she grappled with estate planning. She and her husband each had a child from a previous marriage, and the couple didn't want to create hassles for the family after they died. "If the parents involved don't make the decisions about how things are going to go, it leaves it to the children to battle things out," Barkelew said. "We didn't want that to happen."