Continuing our slightly morbid fascination with famous dead people, we thought that there were lessons to complement our last article on the late, great Aretha Franklin. If you remember last month’s episode, Aretha left not a will, but a handwritten document stuffed in the sofa. Her lack of planning meant her family spent x years and x+$ fighting to resolve that issue. Summary: Please have a legally written will.
This episode brings us the late, great Larry King. Ubiquitous, chain-smoking, opinionated, and slightly bombastic late-night talk show host. Made oodles of money hosting the late-night talk show; estimates of $27,000.00 per show or $7 million a year; not a bad gig for talking to people.
Anyway, Larry King died on January 23, 2021, at age 87. He had recently been hospitalized with COVID-19, although his death certificate reportedly identified sepsis as the immediate cause of death.
King left behind a complicated family and estate situation. He and his seventh wife, Shawn, had completed a formal estate plan in 2015. After filing for divorce in 2019, however, King wrote a brief, handwritten will—known as a holographic will—stating that his previous documents should be replaced and that his assets should be divided equally among his five children.
The handwritten document created several problems:
- It omitted his wife, but their divorce was never finalized.
- It conflicted with the formal estate plan completed in 2015.
- Two of the five children named in it died before King.
- It raised questions about King’s health, mental capacity, and possible outside influence.
- It led to a legal challenge from his widow and further family conflict.
So What Happened to the Money?
The fight dragged on for years. Shawn sued King’s former business managers, his son, and even her own sister, claiming millions had been moved out of the estate through secret accounts and transfers she never approved. Part of the case settled in 2024 with the business management firm. Another piece, the claim against her sister, settled in early 2026. Both settlements are confidential, so the public will likely never see the final numbers or know exactly how the estate was divided.
One handwritten page. A confidential outcome years later. That’s the cost of leaving a plan unfinished.
What did we learn from Larry King? Update, update, update.
It’s necessary for you to update your will when….
- Your marital status changes, especially divorce, can also be true if your children’s or grandchildren’s marital status changes IF they and their spouse are named as beneficiaries.
- A change in your family due to death or birth.
- A change in a beneficiary’s health via an accident or long-term hospitalization.
- Also, major financial change.
The central lesson is simple: A will should not only reflect what you wanted years ago; it should clearly reflect what you want today. Regular reviews can reduce uncertainty, protect the people you care about, and help prevent your legacy from becoming a courtroom dispute.
Get Started on Your Free Will Today
Creating or updating your will is an important step in caring for your family and planning how your resources will be handled in the future. Through Grace Christian University’s partnership with GiftWise you can create a will for free.
Grace does not have access to any information regarding your will. Grace receives no names, no amounts, no details of any kind. This is simply a free gift from us to you, with no strings attached.
Have questions about Giftwise or including Grace Christian University in your estate plans? Contact Pete Tilden, Chief Development Officer, at ptilden@gracechristian.edu or (616) 298-0771 or Ty Thiel, Grace Fund Officer, at tthiel@gracechristian.edu or (616) 410-7651.
