113: How to Avoid a Chaotic “Casey Kasem” Estate Plan?

Actor and radio personality Casey Kasem occupied a singular place in American popular culture. As he counted down the hits for the week via his show, American Top 40, he was also doing something else that was decidedly more important — providing a sense of consistency that we could all rely on. World affairs might rattle us, and the financial markets volatility might worry us, but regardless of what else was transpiring in the world, we could always count on Casey to entertain us with his one-of-a-kind voice, and all would still seem more or less normal.

Unfortunately, the final chapter of Casey’s own life was anything but ordinary. In 2013, one of Casey’s daughters from his first marriage announced that he had been living with Parkinson’s for six years. However, the diagnosis was later changed to Lewy Body Dementia. Not long after, Casey’s three adult children assembled in front of his house to publicly complain that Jean Kasem — Casey’s wife of 30 years — was intentionally keeping them from their now-incapacitated father.

Things only got more vitriolic and combative, with circumstances pitting Jean Kasem and her reckless and duplicitous behavior against Casey’s three older children.

Join Kirsten Howe and associate attorney Madison Gunn as they examine the circumstances surrounding Casey Kasem’s much-publicized and most unusual passing. We’re not using the term “unusual” loosely here, as several aspects thoroughly separate this case from the estate planning disputes we often see. This conflict didn’t stem from haphazard estate planning, nor was money the source of discord for this blended family. This altercation was centered almost entirely on how Casey’s health care should be administered.

Kirsten and Madison will also look at some new California healthcare legislation — Sections 4711 and 4712 of the California Probate Code and analyze what, if any, difference it might have made had it been in effect while Casey’s unfortunate saga was playing out.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss:

How even a well-thought-out, comprehensive health care directive and a court-appointed conservatorship can be rendered ineffectual when an involved party chooses to blatantly disregard them. Why doctors are inclined to seek authority to treat their incapacitated patients and not pursue the whereabouts of advance health care directives unless those documents are brought to their attention? Why proper communication is the most overlooked aspect of estate planning. Why Casey’s decision to list his daughter Kerri, and not his wife Jean, as his agent on his health care directive might have reflected his concerns about how Jean might handle such authority.

And much more.

Don’t miss this episode as we highlight some important legal wisdom that could have alleviated the conflict in this estate plan that you should be aware of for your own planning.