A Probate Court in Tennessee

There’s a matter headed for a probate court in Tennessee that will probably end up encapsulating many of the issues we’ve been writing about all year. It’s very early in the process and not even all the legal issues seem to have been identified yet, but it promises to tick off a lot of the boxes we cover on a daily basis.

At issue is the estate of the late, great Glen Campbell. He died in August, a probate hearing is scheduled for this coming January and the media is already rife with the news that his will explicitly cut out three of his children.

Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2010 and made the incredible decision to announce it to the world in 2011. Then he started making new music, Then he started touring again.

It was an amazing, courageous, unprecedented thing to do. And, it was apparently not an entirely popular decision with everyone in his family. It’s a big family, Campbell was married four times and had eight children.

In the years before his death there were several seemingly serious family disputes about his care and, unsurprisingly, money. Campbell was earning  – from his extensive backlist and the new songs and concerts. The children who were cut out of the will had issues long before his death. Many of those issues involved common themes on these pages: being cutoff from him by a caregiver, not being allowed to participate in his care.

Right now, as far as we can see flipping through the great many articles about Campbell’s estate, there is no solid information about when the children were ‘cut out’. The court, of course, will be looking into all that. It is, however, interesting to note that Campbell’s wife and caretaker over his last months was named the executor somewhere along the line and and her three children are very much in the will. That certainly doesn’t mean that there was any kind of self-dealing going on before or after Campbell’s death, but it will surely be noted by the disinherited children’s’ attorneys.

Questions will be raised about Campbell’s will and any codicils it may contain, where and when and what Campbell’s mental acuity was when he made them, the actions of his wife/caregiver while he was incapacitated, and much more in what is surely set to be a long drawn out court case.

Which is sad, Campbell handled his disease with as much grace and dignity anyone on such a large stage ever has.