Celebrity Estate Planning - Estate of Charles Dickens - Episode 204
- Jenny Rozelle, Host of Legal Tea
- Jul 8
- 7 min read
Hey there, Legal Tea Listeners! This is your host, Jenny Rozelle. We are here for episode 204 –and we are cycling back to an “estate planning of the rich and famous” episode where we chat about celebrities and their estate planning (or lack thereof!). Today’s episode is about Charles Dickens, an extremely famous author – of books like: Great Expectations (which I remember reading in middle or high school), A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Bleak House (which was a legal novel – and even had an element of estate law stuff with a story about conflicting Wills!), and many, many more. The thing about Charles Dickens was that he was writing and living a long, long time ago – and some may think, “How on earth, Jenny, do you think a guy who lived and died in the 1800s would be applicable to estate stuff nowadays?” What I’d say to that is … there are ALWAYS good foundational things to take away from these kinds of people and what happened following their passing.
So, as we always do on these types of episodes, let's talk a little about Charles first, then get into what happened estate-wise following his death. Alrighty … so according to his Wikipedia and Biography.com pages, Charles Dickens started out as a court reporter and journalist, but it sure did not take long for him to discover his real calling in fiction writing. When "The Pickwick Papers" came out in 1836, it was an instant hit, and Charles had stumbled onto something brilliant with his serial publication approach - releasing stories in monthly chunks meant he could actually see how readers were reacting and tweak things as he went along. This method served him well throughout his career as he churned out classics like "Oliver Twist," "A Christmas Carol," "David Copperfield," "Great Expectations," and "A Tale of Two Cities." What made his novels so compelling was not just the characters and plots, but how he used his storytelling to shine a light on social problems.
Charles was not content to just write from his study - he became something of a literary rock star, traveling around Britain and America giving these incredibly popular dramatic readings of his work. He was probably one of the first authors to really understand celebrity and public engagement in the modern sense. Beyond the entertainment value, he genuinely cared about making the world better and threw himself into causes like education reform, workers' rights, and ending public executions.
Now, when it comes to Charles more personally-speaking, he had a pretty rough start. Born in 1812 – which, by the way, he was born on February 7th, which is my birthday – random, fun fact – anyway, he was born in 1812 in England, his family hit hard times when he was just a kid. The worst part came when he was twelve and his father got thrown in debtors' prison - young Charles ended up leaving school and working ten-hour days in a factory. A few years later, though, Charles was able to go back to school when his father received a family inheritance and used it to pay off his debts. Not so fast though, because when he was 15, his education got cut short once again when he had to leave school and take a job as an office boy (at a law firm, nonetheless!) to help support his family. But as fate would have it, this setback actually became the stepping stone to his writing career.
His later personal life included marrying Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and they had ten children together. Though, the marriage was not happy and they eventually separated, but never officially divorced, in 1858, partly due to rumors about his relationship with actress Ellen (nicknamed, “Nelly”) Ternan –who he maintained a relationship with until he died. Charles was also known for being almost manic in his energy levels, taking these long nighttime walks through London to soak up city life, and having this somewhat obsessive personality that drove him to work constantly. All that intensity eventually caught up with him … because on June 8, 1870, Charles suffered a stroke at his home after spending the day working on "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." He passed away the following day, June 9, 1870, at the age of 58.
Following his death, an estate plan, specifically a Will, was located. As part of his Will, he had very express and specific wishes as it related to his funeral and burial. So, let’s chat about that first. Now, while Charles was very specific about his funeral wishes in his Will, what actually happened deviated significantly from his written instructions. According to The Conversation online, in his Will, Charles left instructions that he wanted to be "buried in an inexpensive … and strictly private manner; that no public announcement be made of the time or place of my burial; that at the utmost not more than three plain mourning coaches be employed." And according to the Smithsonian Magazine, Charles’ preferred burial location was "in the small graveyard under Rochester Castle wall, or in the little churches of Cobham or Shorne," which were all near his country home in Kent.
However, when Charles died, a very different outcome occurred. According to ann article by Queen’s University, Rochester Cathedral had prepared for his burial and dug a grave for him, but this plan was abandoned in favor of interment in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. Supposedly, media pressure, particularly from The Times newspaper, led to the change, with The Times suggesting "that the only fit resting place for the remains of a man so dear to England was the Abbey." Despite completely disregarding Charles’ explicit wishes for a modest local burial, the funeral itself did maintain some aspects of his requests - it was "strictly private, and so secret were the arrangements kept that none but the highest of the Abbey officials knew until Tuesday morning" that Charles would be buried there. The nation's most celebrated novelist ended up in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner, where he remains today beneath a simple stone marker.
So, what’s the lesson here? Well, here is the thing about Charles and estate planning - even if you write down exactly what you want, it may not mean much if the people handling your affairs decide to ignore it. Charles was crystal clear that he wanted a simple, quiet burial in a small cemetery near his home, but those in charge of decision-making basically said "nah, you're too famous for that" and stuck him in Westminster Abbey instead. The real lesson? Pick someone for roles in estate planning who respects what you want, not what they think looks better or makes more sense. And while you're alive, take the time to explain why you want certain things - people are way more likely to follow through on your wishes if they understand your reasoning.
Now, let’s shift to the terms in Charles’ Will – and what happened with his sizable estate. Well, first, you can actually see pictures of Charles’ Will on the website for the Charles Dickens’ Museum – I have linked it in the source links for this episode, if you want to take a gander. Anyway, for starters, Charles had quite the fortune when he died in 1870 - worth about £50 million in today's money, according to an article written on Charles’ estate by the The Society of Will Writers – and his Will reads like a Victorian soap opera. Because of course it does! The most eyebrow-raising part was a hefty share he left "free of legacy duty, to Miss Ellen Lawless Ternan.” Most think this was basically his way of publicly acknowledging his relationship with Ellen. Up until then, it had all been whispers and rumors, but leaving her money in his Will pretty much confirmed what everyone suspected.
The treatment of his wife Catherine, who remember – he was separated from but not divorced from, was ice-cold. He basically wrote her off with a curt note that she'd been "in receipt from me" of an annual income and left it at that - no warm words, no additional provisions beyond what the law required… Now, really everything else went to his surviving children – of note, of his ten children, not all survived Charles himself, sadly. The “everything else” included his beloved Gad's Hill estate in Kent, which initially went, through his Will, to his oldest son Charley. Though, unfortunate4ly, money troubles later forced Charley to sell it, according to a legal blog from Pierce Law Group. Charles’ Will also smartly included his literary copyrights and royalties, which kept paying dividends to his family long, long after he was gone.
While Charles sure died a long, long time ago – his estate offers some timeless lessons that estate planners even today should definitely pay attention to. First, the power of acknowledging all the important relationships in your life - even the complicated ones. By leaving money to Ellen Ternan, Charles essentially used his Will to publicly validate a relationship that had been kept secret for years. While this might seem scandalous to many people, it actually prevented potential legal challenges later since he addressed the situation head-on rather than leaving it ambiguous. On the flip side, his treatment of his wife Catherine shows how bitterness can seep into legal documents in ways that might not serve anyone well. Sure, he was legally protected, but the harsh language probably added unnecessary pain to an already difficult family situation.
The bigger lesson is about intellectual property and long-term wealth planning. Charles was smart to include his literary copyrights and ongoing royalties as specific assets in his Will - this kept money flowing to his family for decades after his death. Many people today forget to address their digital assets, creative works, or ongoing income streams in their estate planning, but he showed how valuable these can be. And let’s not forget about the estate planning lesson we learned earlier in the episode about funeral planning. This showed you really need to think carefully about who you're putting in charge of different aspects of your estate.
Alrighty, let’s wrap this episode up and shift to a sneak peak at next week. Next week we’re back to a “cautionary tale” episode where we talk about real-life clients, real-life cases that I, or my office, have worked on -or- maybe they are just generally good things to know/be aware of so you don’t slip up and turn into a cautionary tale one day. Next week’s episode is going to be about what happens if a young family does NOT do estate planning, specifically from a perspective of failing to designate guardians for minor children, so we are going to go through that as well as some general tips about HOW to go about selecting guardians when it’s time to do your estate plan and have to face the question of “Who will be your childrens’ guardian if something happens to you?” So that is next week, Legal Tea Listeners…until then, take care and be well!
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