THE LAST WILL OF ROBIN WILLIAMS

The will of the actor Robin Williams became the subject of a legal dispute between his wife and his three children. Robin Williams left all his $100 million estate to his adult children Zachary, Zelda and Cody. There was an additional provision in the will that his wife Susan Schneider Williams should live in the house they shared in Tiburon. The will stated that she should live in it for her lifetime, but that the children will eventually inherit that as well.

Williams had recently updated his will prior to taking his own life in August 2014. No doubt he had wanted to make it clear as to his exact wishes of the distribution of his assets should be. However, unfortunately as sometimes happens, family members disputed how the estate should be allocated. He had specified in his will the large items such as the house and the money. However, it appears that there was some ambiguity over who kept the items in the house where he lived with his wife.

There followed a bitter and no doubt expensive, legal dispute over the distribution of his estate. The dispute was over who was entitled to keep personal items. His widow and his children each wanted to keep sentimental items such as his clothes, his fossil and graphics novels collection and personal photographs. His widow claimed that all the personal items in the home should not be included in the items willed to his children. This was the crux of the matter to be decided before the courts. His widow argued that by expressing the wish that she lived in the house, her husband had implied that the contents would also be hers. The children argued that the will was clear in his intent to give his personal possessions solely to them.

The parties managed to settle their dispute out of court in October 2015. The terms of the settlement were not made public, but it is known that his widow will remain in the home. There is a trust set up for the expenses of the maintenance of the property. Susan Schneider Williams also received some personal items such as a watch, and their wedding gifts.

This unfortunate dispute shows that you need to be as clear as possible in the terms of your will. Unfortunately, though where families are involved there can never be a guarantee that someone won’t challenge the terms of your will. However, a well drafted will is always difficult to challenge so should deter people from trying to make it the subject of a dispute...

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