Martin Luther King, Jr. Estate In The News

You will often hear Oklahoma City estate planning attorneys talk about how important it is not to procrastinate when it comes to making preparations for the future. While it is true that the average lifespan exceeds 78 years right now, that does not mean that you should wait until you are about 75 to put an estate plan in place.

We never know what lies around the next turn in the road, and it is important to be prepared every step of the way. If you are not, it is not you who will suffer the consequences. Your family will be left behind to work things out.  This is often easier said than done.

A good case in point is the estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King did not have a will or any other estate planning documents in place when he died.  As a result, his children have battled in court over actions taken on behalf of the King Estate Corporation over the years. At the moment, things seem to have been ironed out, but only after a good bit of acrimony.

Recently, the MLK estate is in the news once again. The heirs are trying to gain possession of some documents that were given by King to a woman named Maude Williams Ballou, who is now 86 years of age. Ballou did administrative work for Dr. King and she says that the documents that are in question were given to her by King as a gift. The Estate contends otherwise.

When you hear about these types of cases you gain an understanding of why it is important to plan ahead to nip any potential misunderstandings in the bud. If you are ready to take the first step, simply pick up the phone right now to arrange for a consultation with an experienced and savvy Oklahoma City estate planning lawyer.

Larry Parman
Author, President and Founding Attorney
Parman & Easterday