Rapper Takeoff's Death Triggers Heated Family Legal Battle Over Estate

so there really can be tragic. consequences to not planning ahead and. having a will or a trust or some sort of. estate planning document in place rapper. takeoff's death came suddenly after a. game of dice went wrong but now his. parents face off for his assets what. happens now that the singer died without. a will we bring in family law attorney. Regina Edwards to break it all down. welcome to sidebar presented by lawn. crime I'm Sierra Gillespie.

one month after famed rapper takeoff is. shot and killed in Houston reports. swirled that his parents are fighting. over his assets as he may have died. without a will the 28 year old Migos. rapper was shot and killed in the early. morning hours of November 1st it. happened at a private party in Houston. Texas after an argument broke out during. a game of dice officials say takeoff. whose real name is kirschnic karibal was. shot in the head and torso he was. pronounced dead at the scene now just.

last week's suspected shooter Patrick. Xavier Clark was arrested after. investigators say he was working to flee. to Mexico he's now being held on two. million dollars Bond meantime takeoff's. parents are now going head-to-head to. collect assets from his 28 million. dollar net worth Reports say the. rapper's parents do not get along and. that he died without setting aside a. will now to make sense of all of this. we're joined by family law attorney. Regina Edwards thank you so much for.

joining us Regina. oh you're you're certainly welcome yeah. this is definitely a difficult topic and. very timely okay Regina let's begin with. the basics here what happens when you. die without a will well that really. depends on the state but in general it's. it's not a good thing so when you die. without a will which is also called. intestate then your State's rules really. determines what happens with your money. and for most people that's not really. what they would like so you mentioned.

that his parents don't get along there. have been other famous people that have. passed away without a will and those. cases can really drag on when Steve. McNair was tragically shot his mother. ended up getting evicted from her home. because there wasn't enough Estate. Planning in place that would have. protected her and have given her that. home so there really can be tragic. consequences to not planning ahead and. having a will or a trust or some sort of. estate planning document in place yeah.

so so far we've also seen reports that. takeoff's parents are fighting over. these assets but if he doesn't have any. children or a spouse would they then be. The Logical next step to receive his. assets again that just depends on the. state but each state has default rules. in terms of what happens. who gets the money when someone passes. away so that really just depends on the. state but yes there is a default plan so. if you don't have children usually it's. the parents that it defaults to but.

again that just depends on the state so. if that's not what you want for your. assets then you definitely have to get. your your wishes in writing or the state. is going to decide for you where your. money is going to go. so how do we determine which state of. these laws to follow because where he. died was in Texas but he's actually from. Georgia it most likely will be Georgia I. I and most of his assets and property. would have been located in Georgia so. usually that's where the process is.

going to begin. um it's it's possible that there may be. a jurisdictional argument that another. state would take control but again. that's that's another reason why to have. these things in place because your. estate planning documents can determine. if you have a will where you're going to. go to probate or if you have a living. trust you don't even have to go through. probate at all but that's also something. that you can plan for ahead of time so. you don't have different states arguing. about where these things are going to. take place. so we kind of talked about this briefly.

like if you don't have any spouses or. children or anything and you haven't set. aside the will kind of the chronological. order of who all of this information or. who all of your assets rather would go. to but what about the rest of it like. any siblings cousins aunts and uncles. could these people be seeing a piece of. the pie too yes yes and you know if you. have a lot of cousins there's probably. one or two of them you don't like so if. you don't want that to be the case you. probably need to get you know an estate. planned Howard Hughes I believe died.

with a two million dollar estate and it. ended up being divided amongst. only 22 cousins one of them who he had. never met so it is possible that it can. end up getting distributed to further. heirs down the line some people that you. don't know or don't care for so that. definitely can be avoided as well if you. plan properly so again we're talking. about this will if there is no will here. how do we decide what amount goes to who. and could this process even take years.

in uh legal fees and court and all of. those things to kind of come to a. determination how to separate these. assets I absolutely it could take years. so the probate process is very long and. it's very painful especially when it's. contested so even when you're going. through probate and it's uncontested it. still takes time there's still attorneys. fees involved but in a contested case. the answer is yes it can take years we. have to figure out where the assets are. and the court has to determine where. those assets go and if you have parties.

in this case I guess both parents. fighting to say that they should be the. beneficiaries eventually the Court's. going to have to determine it and you. know the lawyers are going to make a lot. of money in this case there's going to. be feems involved so the estate is going. to be whittled down for whoever's left. standing at the you know when the dust. settles so it sounds like from all of. these answers I'm getting from you the. best thing to do is to create a will. before you die is that something that. you would then recommend yes.

see about it because I mean who wants to. think about when they're gonna die but I. mean I've got news it's all coming for. us at some point. um so it does make sense to to plan for. it. and of course you can change it if your. wishes change down the line but it's. you're really buying peace of mind for. the people you leave behind and it's not. just for wealthy people so even if you. have a small estate if it's if it even. if it's only fifteen thousand dollars if. you want your family members to have.

immediate access to that money as soon. as you pass away without it getting you. know blood drive by attorneys or fees or. taxes or anything like that then just. plan ahead for it it'll cost a little. bit of money up front but that peace of. mind for your family when they're going. through the grieving process of not. having to deal with these legal issues. really will be priceless. yeah that's such a great Point too. Regina thank you so much for joining us. today we will continue to follow this. case and see what happens but as Regina. just told us it could take years to see.

what actually happens but we'll check. back with you with you again soon. of course thank you thanks everyone you. can watch and listen to Long crime. sidebar podcast on Apple podcast Spotify. YouTube and wherever else you listen. I'll see you next time. [Music].