Celebrity Estate Planning - Estate of Lauren Bacall - Episode 213
- Jenny Rozelle, Host of Legal Tea
- 13 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Hey there, Legal Tea Listeners! This is your host, Jenny Rozelle. We are here for episode 213 –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 Lauren Bacall, who was a classic Hollywood star known for her deep voice, cool confidence, and unforgettable screen presence. She got her big break in the 1940s starring alongside Humphrey Bogart—who she actually ended up marrying—and quickly became one of the most iconic actresses of the era. She was sharp, stylish, and held her own in a time when that wasn’t always easy for women in film. So today’s episode is on her, Lauren Bacall, and what happened following her death, but as we always do on these episodes, let’s talk a little about Lauren first, then get into what happened with her estate.
Alrighty, so according to her Wikipedia page and IMDB page, Lauren, whose actual legal name was Betty Joan Perske, started off as a teenage model in New York, but everything changed when she was cast in the 1944 film To Have and Have Not at just 19 years old. That movie didn’t just launch her career—it also introduced her to Humphrey Bogart (Boe-gart), her future husband. With her smoldering looks, signature voice, and no-nonsense attitude, Lauren quickly made a name for herself in a string of dramatic roles, including The Big Sleep, Key Largo, and Dark Passage, often starring opposite of Bogart. Over time, she showed she was not just good at playing the mysterious or tough characters—she had real acting range and later found success on Broadway and in supporting roles in film and TV.
Beyond the screen and stage, Lauren was also known for her sharp wit, strong opinions, and independent spirit. She was never really afraid to speak her mind, and she carried herself with a confidence that made her stand out, even among Hollywood legends. According to Wikipedia and Vanity Fair, over the years, she wrote two memoirs (mem-waars)—one titled By Myself and another one titled Now—both of which, though, offered an honest, no-frills look at her life, loves, and the challenges of being a woman in the spotlight. Lauren wasn’t just admired for her talent—she was respected for her strength, her authenticity, and the way she owned every chapter of her story.
Like I mentioned, Lauren and Humphrey Bogart got married in 1945 and became one of Hollywood’s most iconic couples. Together, they had two children before Humphrey died of cancer in 1957. Lauren later had a brief and very public engagement to Frank Sinatra, which ended abruptly. She went on to marry actor Jason Robards (Row-bards) in 1961, with whom she had a third child, Sam Robards. That marriage (with Jason Robards) ended in divorce, but Lauren remained devoted to her family and often described motherhood as one of the most grounding parts of her life. Even at the height of her fame, she aimed to keep her children’s lives as normal as possible.
According to the New York Times, Lauren passed away, just a little over ten years ago in 2014, at the age of 89 after suffering a stroke. After she passed away, I can confirm an estate plan was located, specifically a Last Will and Testament, that ultimately was filed for probate in a New York Court. If you’re wondering what her estate value was estimated to be – her estate was estimated to be around $26.6 million, which included her stunning longtime apartment at The Dakota in Manhattan (New York), cash, artwork, jewelry, and future royalties from her film and book work. So, in her Last Will and Testament, she left the bulk of her estate to her three children: Stephen Bogart and Leslie Bogart (her kids with Humphrey Bogart) and Sam Robards (her son with Jason Robards). The estate was to ultimately split evenly among the three of them.
But before those larger distributions to her three kids, Lauren made a number of specific bequests / specific gifts to some special people in her life. According to an article written by Bruce Steiner, who I know and have met (Hi Bruce!), those gifts included: (1) She set aside $250,000 for each of her grandchildren, which those distributions were to be held in trust for their undergraduate education until they turned 30; (2) She left $10,000 for her dog, Sophie, -- not really to her dog, Sophie, but to financially care and support ol’ Sophie; (3) She left $20,000 to a long-time helper of hers, Maria Santos; (4) She left $15,000 to another helper, Isla Hernanez; (5) She left her tangible personal property to her three children, with a special request that they respect her wish to keep some letters, writings, diaries, etc. private; (6) She also left her “rights to her name, likeness, voice, visual representation and signature, including her rights of publicity therein, and her copyright interests in her personal papers, letters, books and other writings by her, including any royalty or other rights” to her three children with a request that all decisions be made regarding these things unanimously between the three. That’s something I want to mention, in particular, because in past Legal Tea episodes, we have heard about the rise of AI being used for deceased celebrities’ voices (and such) – so this was a really good idea because Lauren made sure to leave her children the rights to her name, image, and likeness—a smart move for someone as iconic as she was. That way, they’d have control over how her legacy could be used in the future.
Now, something else I wanted to mention regarding Lauren’s estate plan was that she exercised, something called a, general testamentary power of appointment over the trust that she was the beneficiary of, which was under the Will of her first husband Humphrey Bogart. What that means is that she appointed the trust assets (that she was the beneficiary of) to her children (or the issue of a deceased child). Powers of appointment can be tricky and confusing little boogers, but in Lauren’s case, it seems it was the best move to move the benefit of Humphrey’s trust over to the children. So, I wanted to mention this whole power of appointment thing to familiarize the term of art with you all, but also to emphasize that it’s sometimes a great option to consider.
You may be wondering – so who was in charge of all of this stuff? Well, she named all three of her children as Co-Executors. Which, I’m glad this was brought up because that is something I get asked about quite often – “is it smart to list Co-Executors (or really co-anything)?” Well… Appointing Co-Executors offers benefits like splitting up the workload and providing support while ideally having checks-and-balances to safeguard against poor decisions. But it usually creates more problems than it solves. Co-executors frequently disagree, which slows everything down and can, worst case scenario, lead to expensive court battles. Plus, if we have to get both people to sign off on everything, that makes the whole process more time-consuming. It usually works out okay when the two people get along super, super well and have different strengths, but it can be a disaster when you pick co-executors just to avoid hurting someone's feelings or when they have totally different ideas about how to handle things.
Something else that I wanted to talk about in Lauren’s estate was taxes. Boy, what a stressful, messy situation involving taxes. Despite Lauren having an estimated $26.6 million estate, according to Personal Family Lawyer.com, the estate only included around $100,000 in liquid assets/cash at the time of her death, which created a potentially serious liquidity problem when it came to paying estate taxes. If you do the math, the $100,000 represented a meager 0.003% of her total estate value in cash, and her family had only nine months from her death to pay the estate taxes. It is said that the liquidity shortage is likely the reason behind the rush to auction her artwork and personal belongings, forcing her Executors / her children to sell off valuable collections including jewelry, art, and personal items with sentimental value just to raise cash for the tax bill. This represents a classic estate planning failure: having substantial wealth tied up in illiquid assets without enough cash or life insurance to cover estate tax liability, which forced the family to liquidate treasured heirlooms under time pressure rather than keeping them in the family. We saw this exact thing happened in a prior Legal Tea episode – I think it was Joe Robbie’s estate, that happened.
Anyway … as we start to wrap up with some takeaways and final thoughts … she clearly not only planned ahead and did a Will, but also really gave things significant thought, which is clear to me as an estate attorney. She didn’t just have a simple Will that said “okay, everything to my children”—rather, she had detailed instructions for everything … from her grandchildren’s education to the care of her dog to. She also even addressed super, super important things like the rights to her name, image, and likeness, which is especially smart for someone with a public legacy. Lauren’s estate reminds us that it’s not just about what you leave behind—it’s how you do it.
If you think about it … her plan was incredibly thoughtful, organized, and generous. Her family did not end up in court, her staff felt appreciated, and her wishes were pretty darn clear. That said, there was one wrinkle: although her estate was large, it was also pretty illiquid as we talked about regarding taxes—most of the value was tied up in things that were not … cash. Were not liquid, so to speak. That meant the Executors/ her children had to move quickly to sell some assets in order to cover the taxes. So even in a well-done plan, liquidity can become a challenge if it’s not factored in. With all said and done with Lauren’s estate, what do I think is the biggest takeaway? That a good estate plan does not just say who gets what—it also makes sure the pieces are in place to carry it out without added stress or surprise.
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 why choosing the RIGHT executor or trustee matters—and how to go about choosing the right one. Along those line, we’ll also share real examples of what can go wrong when a bank or institutional trustee is put in charge and things don’t go as planned. So yeah … that is next week, Legal Tea Listeners…until then, take care and be well!
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