Celebrity Estate Planning - Estate of James (Jim) Irsay - Episode 219
- Jenny Rozelle, Host of Legal Tea
- 12 hours ago
- 7 min read
Hey there, Legal Tea Listeners! This is your host, Jenny Rozelle. We are here for episode 219 –and we are circling 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 on someone “famous” in my own backyard of Indianapolis – James (Jim) Irsay, most well known as being the long-time owner of the Indianapolis Colts. Though, and I’ll touch on this, he was also well-known for his generosity and charitable giving … and while he faced personal struggles, basically everyone around him praised him for his heart. So yeah, this week’s episode is on the estate of Jim Irsay and what we know so far from an estate perspective. As we always do, though, let’s first talk a little more about Jim, more personally-speaking, and who was near and dear to him.
According to his Wikipedia page, Jim was born on June 13, 1959, in Lincolnwood, Illinois, to Robert and Harriet Irsay. His father, Robert, built a fortune in the heating and air conditioning business before buying the Baltimore Colts in 1972. Tragedy touched the family early—his sister Roberta died in a car accident when Jim was just twelve, and his brother Thomas, who was born with a developmental disability, later passed away in 1999. From a young age, Jim was immersed in football. Summers meant working around the Colts organization—helping in the ticket office, scouting, and even breaking down game film.
When Jim’s father’s health began to fail, Jim became more involved in team leadership. He was named vice president and general manager in 1984, right when the Colts relocated from Baltimore to Indianapolis, making him one of the youngest NFL executives at the time. Then, when his father, Robert Irsay, died in 1997, Jim officially became owner, chairman, and CEO of the Colts. Under his stewardship, the franchise saw its most successful era—highlighted by Peyton Manning’s long tenure and a Super Bowl victory in 2007.
But he was more than just the Colts owner. According to ESPN, Jim Irsay carved out a reputation as one of the NFL’s most colorful and generous owners. He was deeply committed to philanthropy, with a special focus on mental health initiatives, addiction treatment, and recovery services—causes that reflected his own very public struggles with substance use. Over the years, he donated tons of money, literal millions, to treatment programs, research, and organizations working to expand access to care. He also helped launch awareness campaigns to reduce the stigma around mental illness, using his platform to push conversations that many in professional sports had long avoided.
Jim also developed one of the most famous private collections of music, sports, and pop culture memorabilia in the world. The “Jim Irsay Collection” included everything from guitars played by icons like Bob Dylan, Prince, and John Lennon. He even acquired rare sports items, presidential artifacts, and other pieces of Americana. What made it stand out, though, was that Jim did not just lock these treasures away—he regularly staged free or low-cost public exhibitions. Actually, if you ever pass through the Indianapolis airport, they fairly regularly have some of his pieces on display there. The collection was not about prestige—it was about sharing the joy of culture, music, and art with as many people as possible
Last not but least, Jim married a lady by the name of Meg Coyle in 1980, and together they had three daughters: Carlie, Casey, and Kalen. Their marriage ended in divorce in 2013, but the daughters remained closely tied to the family business—Carlie even stepped in to manage team operations during a period when Jim faced health and legal struggles. Sadly, and somewhat unexpectedly, Jim passed away on May 21, 2025, at the age of 65. He died peacefully in his sleep, according to the Colts organization, in Beverly Hills, California with an estimated fortune of over $4 Billion Dollars. Billion, with a B.
Shifting to this estate and estate plan … keep in mind, this podcast is based out of Indiana, and since I am an attorney, I know how to easily look up cases, that as a reminder are public record, so I am able to easily see what’s going on in Jim’s estate. I can confirm he DID have an estate plan – so at least he does not fall into the large group of people I have done on this podcast that have NO estate plan. As part of his estate plan, he had a Last Will and Testament – and that is what I was able to get my hands on. His Will was signed by Jim in June 2023. In it, here are some noteworthy things I see:
1) First, it mentions granting a power of appointment in several Trusts that are “out there” – like, his father’s Trust, Robert Irsay 1988 Trust, his three daughters’ Trusts – the Carlie Irsay-Gordon 2017 Dynasty Trust, the Casey Foyt 2017 Dynasty Trust, and the Kalen Jackson 2017 Dynasty Trust. Not to bore you to death, but all of those Trusts are surefire signs of Trusts that are often created by high net worth families to save on taxes.
2) Second, Jim’s Will is something that is often referred to as a “Pourover Will” which means that any assets that are passing through Jim’s Will at his death are to be poured over, if you will, to Jim’s Trust, which appears to be named the James S. Irsay 1989 Trust.
3) Third, Jim’s Will named all three of his daughters as Executors of the Will, which I have an opinion on and will get to that. Had the daughters been unable to serve, he had named Daniel Luther, who was a former General Counsel of Indianapolis Colts; Daniel Emerson, who was and is the Chief Legal Officer of the Indianapolis Colts; and Pete Ward, who was and is the Chief Operating Officer of the Colts. So, he kept things fairly close-knit between family and professionals around him.
So, here we are siting in the Fall of 2025.. I am recording this in mid/late September and this episode will be released on October 21, which is five months to the exact day after Jim’s death. I mention this because there really has not been a ton of time that has passed between now and then, so maybe doing this episode was a wee bit premature because it sure is not “done” by any means. Though, there are a few things that I want to talk about with Jim’s estate that are relevant to “normal” people like us – you know, not billionaires!
First, I want to talk about him naming his three daughters as Co-Executors. I can only assume the three daughters are likely also named as Co-Trustees of his 1989 Trust, but I don’t know that for sure. It’s an educated guess because MOST people put the same people as Executors as Trustees. But regardless, I want to talk about putting Co-anything. Whether it is Co-Health Care decisionmakers, Co-Powers of Attorney, Co-Executors, etc. When it comes to estate planning, some people decide to name two or more people in a role, but for ease of talking about it, let’s say Co-Executors—that means instead of one person handling everything, two people share the job. On the surface, this may feel like a smart move: maybe you don’t want to “choose” between your kids, or you like the idea of having checks and balances so one person isn’t making all the decisions. The upside is that co-executors can work together, divide responsibilities, and provide accountability.
But here’s the flip side: two people in charge can also mean double the paperwork, double the signatures, and sometimes double the conflict. Typically, every decision has to be made jointly, and if the Co-Executors do not see eye-to-eye, that can slow things down—or even send the estate into court for resolution, which is not good for many reasons. In other words, naming co-executors can work well if the people you choose get along and are both capable, but it can cause more headaches than harmony if they do not. Honestly, I typically discourage naming Co-anything for these reasons.
Now, something else I want to talk about is the privacy, so far, of Jim’s Trust. One big advantage of using a trust in an estate plan is privacy. A Trust, so long as it is setup and funded correctly, keeps the details of who gets what behind the scenes. That means the distributions, the beneficiaries, and even the size of the estate can stay out of the headlines and away from prying eyes. For someone in the public eye like Jim, that layer of confidentiality is a huge benefit. On this, I saw someone on Twitter say this, “… I heard at Lucas Oil today: Jim Irsay left instructions, upon his passing, to leave a generous amount for many members of the Colts' staff, a thank you to those who worked for him.” That person may have heard that, but we do not know that – because there are no references to anything like that in his Will, and his Trust remains private. So maybe he did, but maybe that is just simply a rumor.
A few of what we DO know about Jim’s estate is 1) his Estate and Trust have been selling his real estate – like a huge mansion in Carmel, Indiana, a beautiful lakefront property in Culver, Indiana – which is fine. That just tells me his daughters must not have any interest in keeping those properties. 2) It’s been announced that his daughters, Carlie, Casey, and Kalen, have been named as the new owners of the Indianapolis Colts. It’s even official on the Colts website naming Carlie as Owner and CEO, Casey as Owner and Executive Vice President, and Kalen as Owner and Chief Brand Officer and President of the Colts Foundation. According to a Forbes article written after the press conference announcing them as the new owners, Carlie shared, “We come from a family that did not start a hedge fund or some other business and do this, especially the generation we’re in … This is our business, and we take it very seriously.” She even shared that their father and the three of them have matching horseshoe tattoos (for the Colts). I have that Forbes article linked in the source links – and it is so well done. I really recommend checking it out.
If anything “big” transpires with Jim’s estate, I may do an update episode in the future, but let’s cross our fingers that things play out nice and smoothly for everyone involved and there won’t be material for another episode…
Alrighty, let’s wrap this one 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. In next week’s episode, we’re going to talk about utilizing irrevocable trusts to protect assets against long-term care and Medicaid. Someone requested I do an episode on this topic. So yeah … next week, we’re going to dive into that. Until then, take care and be well!
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