Local lawyers follow Whitney Houston legal battles

Danielle Mayoras has been an attorney for 16 years, but she’s also an author. She and her attorney husband co-wrote “Trial and Heirs” Famous Fortune Fights! The book uses celebrity estate battles to motivate every day families to have a conversation about estate planning.

"Everyone wants to know what’s happening with their estates and that’s what’s happening right now with Whitney Houston," says Mayoras.

In fact, she and her husband have followed the drama between Whitney and her stepmother for several years.
Whitney had loaned her father $800,000 so he could purchase a home. After he died, Whitney was left with a million dollar life insurance policy.

However, her stepmother wanted to use that money to pay off the mortgage, but Whitney said that's not what that money was for.

Whitney was sued by her stepmother and Whitney counter-sued and won. The case was recently resolved in the Court of Appeals and Mayoras says Whitney was in the process of preparing paperwork to foreclose on her stepmother’s home. Now that she has passed away, Mayoras says there are many unanswered questions.

"One question is if the home is foreclosed on, who benfits from that? We’re assuming it will be Bobbi Kristina, but that raises a lot of other issues because most parents don’t want kids getting millions and millions of dollars."

There is plenty of speculation out there, but no confirmation that Whitney Houston had a will or trust.

"I would hope Whitney Houston had a trust. A trust gives a lot more control," says Mayoras.

Even if the reports are true that Whitney was broke when she passed away, Mayoras says Whitney will still make millions since sales of the pop icon's songs have skyrocketed since her death.

Mayoras says there's a reminder here for all of us about the importance of estate planning ... no matter who you are.

"It doesn't matter if it's $30,000 or $30 million. We all want to be prepared for the unexpected .. and the best way to take care of your family is do the proper estate planning," says Mayoras.

To learn more about "Trial & Heirs" go to www.TrialAndHeirs.com

To reach Danielle Mayoras for more information on estate planning go to www.brmmlaw.com