• 04
  • June
    2010

Gary Coleman, the 42-year-old former child television star who died last week, had no will and no living trust at his death.

Florida estate planning attorneys see this phenomenon all the time.

Coleman's estate planning lawyer said that Coleman simply would not make an appointment to draw up a living trust or a will. There is nothing indicating who Coleman would have chosen as his heirs, and there was no one designated to make end-of-life decisions for him.

"We talked about it," said Coleman's estate planning attorney, Randy S. Kester. "Gary hated the legal system. It was always hard to get him to do something like that. He just wanted to live his life and play with his trains [rather] than get involved with lawyers and courts."

Meanwhile, Coleman's agent claimed the television star did have a will, but would not disclose any details.

Mr. Coleman was apparently secretly divorced two years ago, but still lived, off and on, with his ex-wife. She was living with him at the time of his death. It was the ex-wife, Shannon Price, 24, who made the decision to take Coleman off life support.

Utah Regional Medical Center, where Coleman died, claimed that Coleman had an advance health care directive that named Price as the person who could make medical decisions for Coleman if he became unable to make them. The conflict between information from the agent, the medical center and Coleman's estate planning attorney has not been resolved.

  • Source: Salt Lake Tribune "Gary Coleman wasn't married when he died." June 2, 2010                                                                        aar