The fashion world lost a great icon, Oscar De La Renta, late last year and now his estate is being subjected to media scrutiny. The fashion designer did not have a living trust in place, but instead he had written a will. By having a will, all of the details of his estate and distribution of the estate have become public. The media has been focusing on who De La Renta chose as his executor of his estate, as well as how his estate will be distributed.

The issue with the distribution of his estate is one that we addressed in another blog post pertaining to blended families. As we previously explained, blended families are comprised of couples who have re-married and who might have children from previous marriages, as well as children from the current marriage. This is the case of De La Renta, who re-married after his first wife died from cancer thirty years ago. During his first marriage, De La Renta only had one child whom he had adopted. However, his second wife had three children of her own. De La Renta’s will revealed that he has left a majority of his estate to his second wife, and has decidedly “lumped” his adopted child with his three stepchildren for a smaller portion of his estate. Many were shocked that De La Renta would leave such a (arguably) small amount to his only child, and make him share his fortune with his step-siblings. However, this type of estate distribution is pretty common for blended families. It is not as though De La Renta completely cut out his son from an inheritance. Instead, he made sure his wife was well taken care of, as well as all of his children.

Additionally, there was further discussion regarding who De La Renta chose to serve as executor of his estate after his wife should pass. Instead of choosing his son, De La Renta chose one of his step-daughters to manage his estate. Although this might seem like a snub to his son at first, it seems as though De La Renta simply was choosing who he thought would be best for the job. His step-daughter is actually the current serving Vice President of his company, and her husband is the CEO. Thus, De La Renta chose someone who he knew he could trust with important management and financial matters. The selection of your executor should be made very carefully since it can be quite a risk to your estate to choose someone who is less than fully committed to following rules. It seems that De La Renta did the proper thing by choosing someone he could trust to do so. If you would like to discuss how to prepare an estate plan for your blended family, feel free to schedule a complimentary initial consultation. 818.956.9200

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