With talent and success often comes an amassed estate that grows over a person’s lifetime. For successful musicians, their legacy lives on after their death as their music often continues to bring financial security, even after a person passes on. For musician Glen Campbell, his widow is moving to protect her inheritance after his recent death. A court battle has been ongoing and for the recent widow, she is moving to assure she gets 40 percent of his behest.
Probate and estate matters are almost always governed by state law. In Tennessee, a law exists that guarantees a widow a set percentage of her late husband’s estate in the event he dies without a valid will. In Campbell’s case, he is not known to have a valid will. The most recent will, submitted by the widow, was contested by his three children. It specifically excluded the same three children from benefiting from his estate. While the validity of that will has neither been proven or disproven, the recent development in which state law allows for a percentage in case of lack of validity of will certainly may ensure the widow some large percentage of her late husband’s estate.
The musician died after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease last August. Although unofficial estimates have placed the value of the Campbell estate in the millions, a recent preliminary and partial estimate listed an estimated value of $420,221, but this figure does exclude future royalties from Campbell’s many songs. Clearly, there is much as stake in both present value and future value of the late musician’s estate. In addition to the 40 percent share, the widow’s motion seeks a year’s support allowance in an amount to be determined.
It is unclear why the will submitted by the man’s wife of 34 years would be considered invalid. It is also unclear the total value of the estate at this time. Much is to be decided in a probate process that likely could have been avoided, had a valid will be constructed prior to the progression of Campbell’s illness.
Source: tennesseean.com, “Glen Campbell’s wife moves to protect inheritance,” Walter F. Roche Jr., May 5, 2018
