DJ AM was someone that I knew little about until September 2008.  Prior to that time I knew that Nicole Ritchie had seriously dated a Club DJ.  In September 2008 DJ AM, aka  as Adam Michael Goldstein was involved in a plane crash with Travis Barker of Blink – 182.  That is when he became “famous” to me as the crash received national attention.

My assistant had seen him perform twice this year.  She thought he was extremely talented.  So when I read that he was dead in his apartment in New York City it hit home. 

Attorneys for his mother filed a petition for probate today in the Los Angeles Superior Court.  They filed in the same courthouse that my office files a fair number of probates each year. 

As most people know, probate is a public process and a fair amount can be gleamed from the petition.  He did not have a will.  He did not have a spouse or any children.  Therefore under California law his mother is his sole heir because his father is deceased. 

The petition for probate lists his address and estimates the value of his assets that will be going through probate and his liabilities.  It is very straightforward and the probate should proceed without a hitch.  I am certain that anyone that calls himself/herself a probate attorney has had more difficult cases.

His mother also seeks to be made the special administrator of his estate because it is alleged that Goldstein was close to accepting an offer for the sale of his house and was also involved in litigation concerning the plane crash that she wants authority to settle on behalf of the estate – of which she is now the sole beneficiary.

One could argue that had he had a living trust, things would have been even simpler, but    DJ AM’s death will not be cited too frequently on the need for a trust.  In fact, it could be cited for how smooth a probate can be when there are no disagreements.