Hey there, Legal Tea Listeners! This is your host, Jenny Rozelle. We’re back to “estate planning of the rich and famous” where we chat about celebrities and their estate planning (or lack thereof!). Today’s episode is on a super famous golfer in the 80s and 90s named Payne Stewart. Tragically, when Payne was a mere 42 years old, he died in a tragic airplane accident. So, his death came early and came unexpected, which is a sad reminder that life is precious and tomorrow is never guaranteed. Not to mention, since this podcast is on estate and elder law topics, it’s a reminder that it’s never too early to start getting your estate plan in order. As we always do on these episodes, let’s talk a little about Payne personally-speaking, then we’ll shift to what happened estate-wise following his passing.
According to his Wikipedia page, he was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri. Fast forward time, he played in college at Southern Methodist University in Texas, where he graduated from in 1979. Shortly after college, his professional career started. Now, his first big win came after earning his PGA Tour card in 1982 and when he won the 1982 Quad Cities Open – and in a little bit of an “aweee” moment, that was extra memorable because that was the only time Payne’s Dad saw him win. Payne’s Dad was a golfer, too, and had played in the 1955 US Open – so Payne’s love for the game of golf came honest (from his Dad).
Just a few years after watching Payne win the Quad Cities Open, his Dad died of cancer in 1985. That’s why it was a bit of a special moment for Payne (and his Dad).After that, he went on to win major titles – like the PGA Championship in 1989 and the US Open in 1991 and 1999. Besides those wins, he was in runner-up, in the top 5, in the top 10 in many, many, MANY other tournaments. He played for many years in the famous Ryder Cup as well as the World Cup.
More personally-speaking, in 1980, when Payne was playing in a tournament (the Asian Golf Circuit, he met his eventual wife named Tracey Ferguson, who was the sister of an Australian golfer. They got married in 1982, a couple years after meeting. According to The Sun, they had two children, Aaron and Chelsea. Aaron ended up following in his Dad’s footsteps and played collegiately at … you guessed it… also Southern Methodist. He did not go into professional golf, though. Really, the whole family, Tracey, Aaron, and Chelsea, have attempted to remain private and sort of stayed out of the public eye (as much as possible) following Payne’s death.
According to his Wikipedia page, on October 25, 1999, Payne was flying from Orlando, Florida, where he and his family were residing, to Texas for a golf tournament – it was actually the year-ending tournament, nonetheless. The plane ended up crashing in South Dakota. After the tragic crash, the National Transportation Safety Board investigated the crash and came to the conclusion that the plane lost cabin pressure early into the flight and everyone became incapacitated due to lack of oxygen. The plane continued to fly on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel and that’s when it crashed in South Dakota killing all on board.
At the time of Payne’s death, many would argue he was possibly at the height of his career – according to Wikipedia, he was, at that time, ranked third in the all-time money list, ranked in the top 10 of the world’s golf ranking, etc. That, of course, came with a little of career earnings – as in, exceeding $12 Million Dollars winnings.
So, shifting to what happened estate-wise following Payne’s death…
According to Wikipedia, about a year after the tragic plane crash, Tracey, his widow, and Aaron and Chelsea, their two kids, filed a lawsuit against Learjet, who was the airplane manufacturer, against SunJet Aviation, who was the flight operator, and against JetShares One, who was the owner of the airplane. (Of note, this lawsuit was also brought by the family of Robert Fraley, who died on the flight too, and Robert was Payne’s agent. So his family joined in the lawsuit.) Now, because like I mentioned earlier that many would argue that Payne was at the height of his career, the attorney for the family, according to an article in the Herald-Tribune, calculated Payne could have earned more than $200 Million in earnings, endorsements, and other ventures had his life and career not abruptly ended. So, that’s what was at stake with this lawsuit.
Their argument (for their lawsuit) was that there was a cracked adapter that caused an airflow valve to detach from its frame, and that is, what they argue, say is what caused the loss in cabin pressure. Eventually, after the jury trial concluded, but not until June of 2005, the jurors concluded the defendants had no liability in the deaths of Payne as well as his agent, Robert. So, unfortunately for the family yet fortunately for the aircraft-affiliated defendants, the jury did not find in favor of Payne’s family.
I searched and searched and searched for anything regarding Payne Stewart’s estate plan, and did not come up with anything. That very, very likely means that most, if not all, assets passed through joint ownership, beneficiary designations, or trust planning. Regardless, he did something right with his estate plan (or financial plan) because nothing regarding a “lack of Will” or a “Will being probated” or anything made the headlines. Not to mention, he died nearly 25 years ago at this point (which 1999 doesn’t seem like 25 years ago!), so if anything was going to be made public, it would have definitely been made public by now. At this point, we are very, very, very likely not going to learn anything ever about Payne’s estate plan – unless at Tracey’s passing, his widow, we find something out, but that’s probably unlikely too.
A couple things, while we are on Payne’s estate, that have actually hit the headlines recently – in 2021, specifically. In March 2021, according to ABC News, Tracey announced that she was going to be selling 200+ items from Payne’s collection through an auction. She said, “Over the years so many people have reached out to share how much Payne impacted their lives or the lives of their loved ones. I am pleased to share these items as a reminder of how much Payne enjoyed golf, but even more, how much he enjoyed people. I hope these will become treasured mementos that will inspire and encourage people in the same way Payne lived his life.”
The article shared that some of the items were: Payne’s player’s badge from the 1999 US Open (that’s where he made that famous 15 foot putt on the 18th hole to win); various other badges from tournaments, commemorative plates and crystalware from The Masters; his personal golf clubs, cufflinks, clothing, and shoes. Those later items are kind of cool because, as the ABC News article notes, Payne was famously known for his eccentric style sometimes. Further, it was shared that every item that was purchased would come with a personal letter from Tracey herself. The auction was, to no one’s surprise, a success! According to the Golf Wife, Payne’s famous 1999 US Open badge sold for a little over $37,000, for example. I don’t think a final figure was ever released, at least I couldn’t find a final figure. Nonetheless, a success!
Shortly following the sale of many of Payne’s personal collection, another update came later the same year in 2021, that Tracey was selling the house that her and Payne were building together at the time of his death. Actually, I read somewhere that Payne never got to see if finished because of the plane crash. The house is located in Orlando and I happened to stumble upon the listing of it, which I will put in the source links for the episode, but it is BEAUTIFUL. Well, it sold in October of 2021 for just over $7 Million Dollars. Since the sale of the house, Tracey, yet again, has snuck back into quiet life – that’s clearly her preferred place. Good for her.
So, this “celebrity estate planning” was a bit different – we sure don’t know a lot, huh? The same thing kind of happened many, many episodes ago when I did a “celebrity estate planning” episode on Betty White. There was a whole bunch of nothing out here about Betty’s estate plan, too. Just like here with Payne. So, then let’s talk about the big takeaways from Payne’s estate following his death – well, to me obviously, I think probably the biggest takeaway is the privacy aspect. I searched and searched and searched for some concrete information on an estate plan – as in who got what, who is in charge, etc. – and there’s literally no information out there. That’s the beautiful thing about 1) doing an estate plan and 2) doing a thorough estate plan. Things CAN remain private, so long as you put the time, money, and energy into good planning. Like I said earlier, he must have had his assets lined up in a way that did not require his Will (or lack of a Will) to have to involve the probate process. Maybe he lined up his assets to avoid the public probate process through joint ownership and beneficiary designations -or- maybe he created a Trust (which so long as it’s funded appropriately will also keep things out of the probate process.
You know, I often hear from my own clients and prospective clients – “Jenny, what’s the best way for me to avoid probate? Do we need a Trust? Do we have enough assets for a Trust?” I always answer the same way on most super-general questions like this – “It depends!” It depends on a lot of fact, but first, Trusts are NOT just for the wealthy. I help a lot of clients get Trusts in place (and most of my clients are just everyday people). To figure out if a Will or Trust makes best sense, it's not really about how much in assets you have, rather it is better to focus on the GOAL – It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish and from there, is how we determine if a Will or Trust makes sense – it’s not about how much you have in assets, I promise.
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, we are going to talk about how someone may go about picking an attorney to do their estate plan or to help with an elder law issue – kind of like a “how to pick a good estate and elder law attorney” kind of thing! So tune in for that next week, but until then, Legal Tea Listeners…take care and be well!
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