We have made the point here and many others have made the point elsewhere: If you want your wishes for your estate to be carried out, you must spell them out and write them down with the help of a Brevard County estate planning attorney.
If you rely instead on conversations and verbal vows — no matter how sincere those promises might be — there is a distinct possibility that your wishes will not be carried out if they are not written down and part of your estate documents.
We read recently of a famous man who reportedly made promises to a close companion about the use of real estate, those vows might never be carried out. The man: British pop star George Michael, who died last Christmas at age 53.
Michael was discovered by his lover, Fadi Fawaz, in a London townhouse they shared.
Since that fateful day, tensions between Fawaz and members of Michael’s family have risen steadily.
According to a news report by Forbes, Michael had promised Fawaz that he could stay in the townhouse as long as he liked. But that generous sentiment is apparently not expressed in any estate documents, so it is likely unenforceable.
In fact, the news article says the Michael family is planning to remove Fawaz from the $6 million-plus townhouse he shared with the late singer.
Forbes notes that in the UK, like the U.S., conversations about real estate have little or no legal weight. Instead, promises of the sort Michael allegedly made to Fawaz must be written down to be valid — a point all of us with property and the best of intentions would do well to remember.