Kobe's Daughter left out of the $600 million dollar estate

Yes, you read that right Kobe Bryant’s 7-month old daughter, Capri, was left out of his estimated $600 million dollar estate. In January, the tragic deaths of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, caught us all by surprise. Soon after very little was known as to Kobe’s estate planning strategies used to protect and preserve his estimated $600 million dollar estate for his wife, Vanessa, and the three surviving daughters.

There wasn’t much, if any, media attention about his estate and as an Estate Planning attorney that means Kobe had a great estate plan - everything was kept private, not tied up in court, and his family maintains their quality of life during this transition period … his plan worked. Then I heard about Capri being left out of his estate plan.

But didn’t Kobe leave everything to his wife Vanessa?

 Since Kobe had a trust the contents of it remain private, but based on the summary of the trust and the Probate Court documents here’s what we know…

  1. The trust was set up to allow Vanessa and his daughters to draw from the principal and income of the trust during Vanessa’s lifetime with the remainder of the trust estate going to their children upon Vanessa’s death.
  2. The trust lists the 3 older daughters as beneficiaries, but not Capri. Capri does not have equal rights as a beneficiary, so she won’t inherit from Kobe’s Trust.
  3. Vanessa and Robert Pelinka Jr. as co-Trustees have petitioned the Probate Court to modify the Trust.
  4. The Probate Court Judge will decide if Capri will be eligible to inherit from Kobe’s Trust.

Hopefully, the Probate Court concludes that it was Kobe’s intent to include Capri as a beneficiary of his Trust.

Here’s how you avoid the Court Costs and Public record…

Stay up to date. We check-in with our Estate Planning clients annually and do a comprehensive three-year Estate Plan review to make sure their plan is up to date. We recommend immediately modifying your plan following births, deaths, divorces, or inheritances. 

Look I know the Bryant's will be able to absorb the unnecessary Court Costs, but will your family? To make sure your plan works exactly as intended for the one you love contact us today to review and update your current plan or create one if you haven’t done so. The easiest way to start is with our Complimentary Estate Plan Review

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