I just finished reading Paul Newman’s will.  You can too by going to the website Radaronline.com.  Mr. Newman signed his will on April 11, 2008 and passed five months later on September 26.  As an estate planning attorney who probates many estate annually it is always interesting for me – maybe not for most others – to read the work product of other attorneys who practice in the same area of the law as I do.

A couple of things caught my attention.  One is that Mr. Newman’s will never directly mentions the names of his children (he left 5 daughters).  Second is that very early in his Will he indicates what is to happen to his airplane and race cars (they are to be sold with the proceeds distributed to his trust) and his Oscars and other theatrical awards (which are left to Newman’s Own Foundation).  Third, I read that one of his co-executors lives in Manhattan Beach, California which is where I reside.

Newman did have a Living Trust (“the Amended and Restated Newman Living Trust Number One”), but his Will is very specific concerning the distribution of many of his assets.  It is unclear whether a lot of his assets will be subject to probate or if in fact they were owned by his living trust. 

It is rare in California that a will executed in the last fifteen years has as much detail as Mr. Newman’s.  Most people who do estate planning in California save the details for their living trust and the will is much more general.  Therefore, the public generally knows less as a result of the filing of a will in probate court.