Hey there, Legal Tea Listeners! This is your host, Jenny Rozelle. We’re back to “estate planning of the rich and famous” where we chat about celebrities and their estate planning (or lack thereof!). Today’s episode is on none other than Muhammad Ali – it’s a name that likely needs no introduction, but in case someone listening happens to have no idea who it is, this is how Wikipedia describes him: He was “an American professional boxer … Nicknamed “The Greatest” he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century and is often regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.” So yeah, he was a big deal. A super big deal! Well, as we always do in these types of episodes, let’s talk a little about him personally-speaking, then we’ll end up shifting to what happened estate-wise following his death in 2016.
According to Muhammad’s Wikipedia page, he was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky – a Midwestern kid. I love it. If you didn’t know, I’m in Indiana, and I had no idea he was from Louisville initially. Anyway … He started boxing at the super young age of 12 and crazy enough, he won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome when he was only 18. So impressive! The next year, in 1961, Muhammad converted, in religion and faith, to Islam. Clearly, this time of his life was filled with lots of things, lots of changes because the very next year, in 1962 when he was 22, he changed his name.
Now, a lot of people know what I’m about to say … that Muhammad Ali was not his birth-given name … when he was born, he was named Cassius Clay, Jr, but he changed it to Muhammad Ali – saying his birth name was a slave name. Before I forget to mention, if you like learning about family history and heritage, you should check out Muhammad’s family history as well as his specific upbringing and life. This episode took a long time to research because I kept going down rabbit holes learning about his family and life! As faithful Legal Tea Listeners know, usually these episodes are about 15 minutes in length – I could EASILY spend the entire time talking about Muhammad personally and never get into his estate stuff!
According to his Wikipedia page, Muhammad was married four times and had nine kids – seven daughters and two sons. Again, I won’t go into each marriage and child (for sake of time). His second marriage brought him his first kiddos – four, specifically, which was his oldest daughter Maryum, twin girls Jamillah (Juh-mee-luh) and Rasheda, and a son, Muhammad Ali, Jr. A couple years after Muhammad Ali Jr. came his fifth child (a daughter), Miya (Mee-yuh), and a sixth child (another daughter), Khaliah (Kuh-lee-uh) – both of these came from affairs. In fact, Muhammad, Jr. and Miya were born in the same year of 1972. After the infidelity, Muhammad and his 2nd wife divorced and he ended up marrying a third woman – which brought him two children, Hana and Laila. Both daughters. That’s children #7 and #8. That marriage also ended and he ended up marrying the fourth woman, which is who he stayed married to until he passed away. That marriage brought him his final child, which he and her adopted, a son by the name of Asaad.
According to his Wikipedia page, in 1984, Muhammad was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. Thankfully, he remained active, which likely had a positive impact on him and the Parkinson’s diagnosis. (Little fact: I serve on the Board of Directors for the Indiana Parkinson’s Foundation, and I had no idea that he had been diagnosed with it. Though, it makes sense now since many programming for Parkinson’s individuals involves … boxing! I should have connected the dots, but I have never have!) Anyway … A few years later, in 1988, he and Michael J. Fox, who had also been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, collaborated to raise awareness and funding for a cure. Their collaborations continued for many years, including Muhammad working with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Several years later, starting in 2014, he started really dealing with some additional health issues – like, in December 2014, Muhammad got pneumonia and was hospitalized; in January 2015, so just the following month, he found himself back at the hospital after dealing with a urinary tract infection. Finally, in June 2016, Muhammad was hospitalized due to a respiratory illness, which resulted in his death at the age of 74 from septic shock.
So, now shifting to what happened estate-wise following his death…
For starters, when Muhammad first died, reports were that his estate was worth somewhere between $50 Million and $80 Million Dollars – but as Forbes suggested, “That could just be the start. As Entertainment Tonight reported, the value of the champ’s fortune could increase dramatically now that he is gone, just as happened with Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston.” Not to mention, I’ve done an episode (a handful of weeks ago) about a publicist that specifically represents deceased celebrities – and one of the things I talked about is sometimes the deceased celebrity is “worth” just as much, if not more sometimes, than when the celebrity was living. Isn’t that wild?
As I started researching for this episode, I could only find article-after-article that kept saying that “estate disputes would like happen” – basically saying that between his marriages, children, infidelity, etc., that it was ripe for fighting. One even said something like … it was set to be World War III. Well, for a long time, that’s all I could find – is articles saying fights would probably happen, but I couldn’t find anything about a fight ACTUALLY happening. That was my first sign of … well, a fight NOT happening because those would be the headlines I’d find …not a fight would PROBABLY happen, you know? Well, I finally found what I was looking for…
So, about a year after Muhammad passed away, all these reports happened … that the estate would be fought over, the family would be fighting against each other, etc. Well, those happened and about a year after he passed away, his daughter, Maryum, hit back at the reports and denied any fighting, according to Daily Mail. She said, “My father raised me and my siblings to love each other and that is exactly who we are, very loving people. We are not in any feuds with each other or with our stepmother, Lonnie.” (Of note, Lonnie was his last wife, who he was still married to when he passed away.) She continued, “It’s unfortunate that there is someone out there submitting stories with so many untrue statements. We try to ignore these articles, but they seem to be never-ending, which is sad because I know I have some wonderful siblings that simply what to live peaceful lives. The terms of the Trust is confidential and is not the business of the people.”
THERE it is! That’s what I was looking for. That’s why I could not find much out there about his Estate – he had an estate plan likely consisting of a Trust, which Trusts, as we have discussed on here many times, are settled and handled privately – so long as the beneficiaries don’t drag it into Court and fight about anything. Now, there are additional reports “out there” about how much the kids got, how much Lonnie, his widow, got – but those are merely reports, much like the reports that the kids were fighting. Who knows if they’re trust. What I can confirm is I could not find much at all about Muhammad’s estate plan – and in my opinion, my professional opinion that is, I believe that the fact that he had a Trust is likely trust since there’s a whole lot of nothin’ out there about his estate plan.
So, what are the big takeaways from this episode and Muhammad’s estate plan that likely involved a Trust – well, to me, I think the BIGGEST takeaway is the privacy piece, right? Like I said, I searched and searched and searched for some MORE information about Muhammad’s estate plan details – as in who got what – and there’s no solid information out there. Just some reports here and there. Nothing really official. We can assume things (like maybe Lonnie, his widow, getting some of his estate, his kids getting some, etc.) but that would merely be assuming – and I try not to do that here on Legal Tea! You see, that’s the beautiful thing about 1) actually doing an estate plan and 2) doing a THOROUGH estate plan. Things CAN remain private, so long as you put the time, money, and energy into good planning.
I often hear from my own clients and prospective clients – “Jenny, do we need a Trust? Do we have enough assets for a Trust?” I always answer the same way – First, Trusts are NOT just for the wealthy. I help a lot of clients get Trusts in place (and most of my clients are just everyday people). Instead of how much in assets, I always focus on the GOAL – It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. For example, are you just trying to get the bare minimum done right now just to get something in place? Maybe a Trust is not needed. Are you trying to avoid probate? Are you trying to provide a specific distribution pattern (i.e. based on age) for beneficiaries? Or, are you trying to gain asset protection? If any of those are a yes, maybe a Trust DOES make sense. It’s very goal-dependent rather than how many assets you have.
So, the other big takeaway is that Muhammad accomplished this level of privacy by utilizing a Trust. With a Trust, you not only have to have the Trust prepared and signed, but there’s a process that happens AFTER you sign the document called funding. The funding of a Trust means you are proactively getting assets into the name of your Trust (as in the Trust will own the asset) or possibly make the Trust the beneficiary. The funding process puts the bow on the top – without the Trust funding, it’s a pile of paper. So, if you have a Trust or if you want a Trust, be sure to get the thing funded. Any solid estate planning attorney can help with that. I promise!
Alrighty, let’s wrap this episode up and shift to a sneak peak at next week. Next week we’re back to a “cautionary tale” episode where we talk about real-life clients, real-life cases that I, or my office, have worked on -or- maybe they are just generally good things to know/be aware of so you don’t slip up and turn into a cautionary tale one day. Always good stuff on those episodes! Tune in, but until then, Legal Tea Listeners…take care and be well!
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