Monthly Archives: June 2026

Every Fourth of July, we celebrate a simple but powerful idea: that people have the right to determine their own destiny. We celebrate the courage of individuals who rejected someone else’s rules and insisted on making their own. And then, statistically speaking, most of us go home and allow our state legislature to make some of the most important decisions of our lives.

I have written before about the horrors of intestacy and what happens when someone dies without a Will or Trust in place and state statutes determine who gets what. If you missed that piece, the short version is this: it is not pretty. The state does not know your family. It does not know that you were estranged from your brother, that your eldest child has struggled with addiction, that your closest friend was more like a sister to you than your actual sister, or that you wanted your vintage record collection to go to the neighbor who actually appreciates it. The state has a formula, and it applies that formula whether it fits your life or not. There are no deviations or considerations based upon your circumstances, just the formula.

In many cases, intestacy can also increase the time, expense, and court involvement required to settle an estate, creating additional burdens for the family members left behind. This Independence Day, I want to make a simple but serious case: declaring your independence from intestacy is one of the most meaningful things you can do for the people you love.

What Intestacy Actually Means

Intestacy is the legal term for dying without a valid Estate Plan. Every state has intestacy laws, a predetermined hierarchy that dictates who inherits your assets when you have not left instructions of your own. In most states, that hierarchy looks something like this: surviving spouse first, then children, then parents, then siblings, and so on down the family tree. Sounds reasonable enough, until you consider the complications that real life introduces.

What if you are unmarried but have been with your partner for fifteen years? Intestacy laws in most states will give that partner nothing. What if you have children from a prior relationship and a current spouse? The intestacy formula may divide your estate in ways that leave your spouse unable to stay in the family home. What if your closest living relative is someone you have not spoken to in a decade? Under intestacy, they may inherit everything. Intestacy does not account for the texture of your actual life. It accounts only for legal relationships, and even then, only in the order the legislature decided upon rather than the order that you would choose.

The Freedoms a Proper Estate Plan Gives You

Just as the Declaration of Independence was not merely a rejection of British rule but an affirmative statement of rights and values, a proper Estate Plan does more than reject intestacy. It serves as an affirmative declaration of your own wishes and values.

With a comprehensive Estate Plan, you have the freedom to:

Leave your assets to whomever you choose. You can leave assets to your college roommate, your church, your favorite charity, your grandchildren, or a mix of all of them. You can determine the proportions they receive and whatever timeline and conditions make sense for your family.

Name a guardian for your minor children. For many parents, this is the single most important decision in their Estate Plan. If you do not make that choice, a judge may ultimately be asked to determine who will raise your children.

Choose who administers your estate. The person who settles your affairs after your death should be organized, trustworthy, and capable of handling the task with care. Intestacy does not give you that choice. A Will or Trust does.

Protect a surviving spouse or partner. A properly drafted Trust can ensure that your spouse has access to income and assets during their lifetime while also protecting the remainder for children or other beneficiaries. Intestacy cannot achieve this balance.

Plan for incapacity as well as death. A comprehensive Estate Plan includes a Durable Power of Attorney and an Healthcare Power of Attorney.  These documents give trusted individuals the legal authority to make financial and medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself. Intestacy addresses only what happens after death. It offers no guidance at all if you are alive but unable to manage your own affairs.

The Most Common Reason People Put Estate Planning Off

People delay creating an Estate Plan for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes it’s the perceived cost, other times it’s the anticipated complexity.  For some, a belief that they do not need an Estate Plan yet, that only older individuals, wealthy individuals, or settled individuals need an Estate Plan.

The Declaration of Independence was not signed by people whose lives were settled. It was signed by people who understood that uncertainty is precisely the reason to act, not a reason to wait. You do not need to be wealthy to need an Estate Plan. You need only have people in your life about whom you care. You need to have opinions about what should happen to your belongings. You need to have a preference about who makes decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. If any of those things are true, then you need an Estate Plan.

A Declaration Worth Making

The Founders did not leave the future of the nation to default rules and crossed fingers. They wrote it down. They were specific. They argued about the language, revised it repeatedly, and ultimately put their intentions in writing. Your Estate Plan does not require that level of drama. But it does require a decision: the decision to declare, clearly and legally, what you want to happen to your assets, your dependents, and your legacy when you are no longer here to speak for yourself.

This Fourth of July, between the potato salad and the fireworks, consider making that declaration. I can help you create a plan that reflects your actual life, your actual family, and your actual wishes, not the state’s best guess at what those might be. The question is not whether someone will make these decisions. The question is whether it will be you or the state. Freedom, as it turns out, requires a little paperwork.

 Shannen Doherty faced her illness with the same determination she brought to everything else. She died on July 13, 2024, at the age of 53, leaving behind legions of fans and, as it turns out, a cautionary estate planning tale worth telling.

What happened after Shannen’s death has less to do with her Estate Plan and more to do with the behavior of those left behind to honor it. As any experienced Trusts and Estates practitioner will tell you, the best-drafted plan in the world can still end up in litigation if the wrong people are involved. Shannen’s story proves that.

Shannen filed for divorce from her husband of eleven years, photographer Kurt Iswarienko, in 2023. By her own account, the marriage ended when she discovered that Iswarienko had been carrying on an affair for two years.  She made this discovery just before undergoing brain surgery. “I went in after I found out that my marriage was essentially over,” she shared on her podcast. “At the end of the day, I just felt so incredibly unloved by someone I was with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart.”

Shannen pushed through the divorce proceedings even as her health declined. She signed the divorce settlement on July 12, 2024, the day before she died. Iswarienko signed on July 13, the day of her death. The divorce was finalized just after she died.

The timing matters enormously from an estate planning perspective. Had Shannen died before signing that settlement agreement, the divorce proceedings would have terminated, potentially leaving Iswarienko with rights to a spousal share of her estate. By signing when she did, Shannen protected her estate and ensured that the settlement she negotiated would govern the division of their assets. It was, in every sense of the word, a final act of advocacy for herself and the people she loved.

Shannen had no children. Upon her death, the assets of her estate, including her beloved Malibu home, flow to her mother, Rosa. Those close to Shannen described that home as her personal sanctuary.  She purchased it in 2004 for $2.56 million and renovated it after it was damaged in the 2018 Woolsey fire.  The home was listed for sale in 2025 for $9.5 million and has since been reduced to $8.7 million.

Christopher Cortazzo, a real estate agent and longtime friend who first met Shannen in the 1990s when she came to view one of his properties, manages that listing and serves as Trustee of the Shannen Doherty Family Trust.  Cortazzo has been fighting to enforce the terms of Shannen’s divorce settlement on behalf of her estate. “When you’re a notable figure, your home becomes your sanctuary,” Cortazzo told the Wall Street Journal. His devotion to carrying out Shannen’s wishes speaks to one of the most important lessons her story offers.

The divorce settlement contained several specific provisions designed to equitably divide the couple’s assets. Among them:

Iswarienko was to sell the couple’s $1.5 million home in Dripping Springs, Texas, and divide the net proceeds with Shannen’s estate equally. Instead, he appears to be living in the home and has refused to list it for sale.

He was required to return Shannen’s personal property to her estate. He has refused.

He was required to produce an inventory of his photographs of Shannen and provide copies of all such photographs no later than September 1, 2024. As of the November 2025 petition, he has failed to do that.

He was required to buy out Shannen’s share of a Mooney M-20 airplane for $100,000 and pay that sum to her estate within five business days of the sale. He made the sale in August 2024 but withheld over $50,000, leaving the estate fifteen months without the funds owed.

On November 24, 2025, Cortazzo, in his capacity as Trustee of the Shannen Doherty Family Trust, filed a petition accusing Iswarienko of failing to fulfill these monetary and other obligations. Notably, Iswarienko’s own attorney withdrew from the case in September 2025, listing the very Texas home that Iswarienko was supposed to sell as his last known address.

Shannen’s situation offers several important takeaways for anyone creating or updating an Estate Plan.

First, update your plan when your circumstances change. Divorce is one of the most significant life events that should trigger an immediate review of your Estate Plan. Many people fail to update their beneficiary designations, trustee appointments, and documents when a marriage ends or begins to unravel. While the full contents of Shannen’s Estate Plan are not public, she did have the foresight to establish the Shannen Doherty Family Trust – a vehicle that has given her estate both the legal standing and the mechanism to pursue enforcement of her rights after her death.

Second, name someone you truly trust as your Trustee. The choice of who serves as Trustee drives an Estate Plan more than just about anything else. Shannen named a decades-long friend – someone who loved her, knew her wishes, and has proven himself willing to fight for them. A qualified Trustee doesn’t just sign documents; they protect the integrity of your plan when you can no longer do it yourself. If you have named a family member or friend who may not be up to that task, or whose loyalty might be divided, now is the time to reconsider that choice.

Third, be precise in your legal documents. The divorce settlement in this case contained specific deadlines, specific dollar amounts, and specific obligations. That level of detail is exactly what has allowed Shannen’s estate to identify each instance of non-compliance and bring a petition to enforce the settlement. Vague agreements produce vague results. Whether in a Trust, a Will, or a settlement agreement, precision protects the people you love.

Fourth, plan for the people who will actually receive your estate.  Like many individuals, Shannen had no children and constructed her Estate Plan accordingly. Too often, people assume that if they are unmarried or do not have children, they do not need an Estate Plan. Often, attorneys create plans designed around spouses and children without considering what happens if those individuals predecease them. A comprehensive Estate Plan accounts for your actual circumstances, not your assumed ones. If you are single, divorced, or childless, your plan requires just as much care and attention, arguably more, than anyone else’s.

Shannen Doherty spent the last years of her life fighting for her health, her dignity and for the settlement that would protect her estate and the mother she left behind. She fought to the very end. It is a shame that the fight continues. If Shannen’s story resonates with you, whether because you are navigating a divorce, facing a health challenge, or simply realizing that your Estate Plan needs attention, now is the time to act. I can help you create or update a plan that reflects your actual life, names the right people to carry it out, and gives those you love the best possible chance of honoring your wishes. Don’t wait for the documents to sign themselves.