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Writer's pictureJenny Rozelle, Host of Legal Tea

Current Trends - Sharon Stone's Missing $18 Million - Episode 155


Hey there, Legal Tea Listeners –This is your host, Jenny Rozelle. Welcome back for another episode today! Today is a “current trends” topic where we talk about things going on currently that are relevant and pertinent to my estate and elder law world, and/or maybe things I’ve seen on the news or stumbled across on social media. Well, on today’s “current trends” episode, we’re going to talk about something that has been recently released about famous actress and model, Sharon Stone who, back in 2001, suffered a tragic medical event – a stroke that resulted in a brain bleed. There are now reports that during that time and recovery, Sharon said she was “taken advantage of” and lost approximately $18 Million Dollars. So, that’s what today’s episode is about – and I am going to first go into what is being reported about what happened with Sharon Stone and then I will wrap the episode up with some of my general thoughts as an elder law attorney, who routinely helps folks as they age and possibly suffer health events like Sharon did, etc.

As you may have heard me mention it a few seconds ago, Sharon had a stroke that resulted in a brain bleed over 20 years ago – in 2001. She was recently interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, where she talked about the terrifying medical event and recovery. In the interview, she shared, “Everything changed. My sense of smell, my sight, my touch. I couldn’t read for a couple of years. … A lot of people thought I was going to die.” She further shared that it took her seven years to recover and immediately after the stroke and brain bleed, as well as the time after, “people took advantage of [her] over that time.” She continued, “I had $18 Million saved because of all my success, but when I got back into my bank account, it was all gone. … Everything was in other people’s names.” That was all reported through an article on CNN, but based around the interview she did with The Hollywood Reporter.

You see, when I first started researching for this episode, I stumbled across the CNN article first. Basically what I just reported is all the article said, so then I went and checked out The Hollywood Reporter article … and wow! The article was not just about the stroke, but there’s a section of the interview that did talk about it – and it definitely went into things a bit more deep. For example, the interviewer asked Sharon the following prompt: “Can we talk about your stroke in 2001? You were given a 1 percent chance of survival. You lost hearing in one ear. You had 23 platinum coils surgically implanted in your brain. In the middle of it all, there was the divorce from your husband at the time, Phil Bronstein.” Her response was short and sweet: “That was the good part. That was the upside.” Reading that, I’m not sure if she was referring to the divorce or what, but that was her response.

After that question, the interviewed jumped into Sharon’s recovery post-stroke and brain bleed – and that’s when Sharon brought up the missing $18 Million. It was almost brought up semi-casually (or at least that is how I read it). The interviewed asked, “You were left completely broke?” Sharon responded, “I had zero money.” The interviewed said, “How do you recover from that?” Sharon said, “I decided to stay present and let go. I decided not to hang onto being sick or to any bitterness or anger. If you bite into the seed of bitterness, it never leaves you. But if you hold faith, even if that faith is the size of a mustard seed, you will survive. So, I live for joy now. I live for purpose.” Wow – talk about an immense amount of healing, right?

And that really was the extent of the interview. Most of the articles I found, whether it was New York Post, Business Insider, Yahoo, Fox News, MarketWatch, etc., they all did articles about Sharon’s missing money, but it was based off this Hollywood Reporter interview. So, I couldn’t find any additional information to report, beyond what Sharon said herself in this interview. You know – I’m not sure how to say this, but … It is weird to me that so far, we’re just going to let this be reported and not do anything about it. $18Million … just missing … and we’re “okay” with it. Maybe Sharon has come to terms with it and wants to move on, and if that’s the case, then so be it. Nonetheless, I think more details would be helpful to better understand if she was truly taken advantage of or what happened. Like, are their bad actors that need to explain their actions? Or, would it have passed the “sniff test” and maybe it’s just headlines?

Unless Sharon (or someone else) explains more, we may never know. All we may know is that during a very intense and scary part of her life, about $18 Million Dollars of Sharon’s is missing. To me, I think this brings up a really important issue to talk about here on Legal Tea. I referenced it at the beginning of the episode – that, I wanted to share some general thoughts, as an elder law attorney, who routinely helps folks as they age and possibly suffer health events like Sharon did. So, we’re going to shift to that topic in this episode now…

There are three general things I want to hit on at this point and they are:

1.     When you proactively plan and get an estate plan in place, that puts you in the driver’s seat and not someone else (like the Court).

2.     Along the same lines, when you do your estate plan, think long and hard about who-goes-where. We’ll get into that more in a second!

3.     And third, if someone surprises you and misbehaves, then what?

So let’s hit on each one. First, when you proactively plan and get an estate plan in place, that puts YOU in the driver’s seat and not someone else (like the Court). I’ve talked about this before on here – eventually, whether it’s due to incapacity or death, you’ll need someone to take the baton and deal with your legal affairs, financial decisions, and healthcare decisions. While living, that’d be a Health Care Power of Attorney and/or a Financial Power of Attorney. After death, it’d be an Executor through a Will (or an Executor appointed by the Court if you didn’t have a Will) or a Trustee of a Trust. The point here … someone is going to have to work on your behalf and make decisions for you eventually.

Doing an estate plan allows you to be in the driver’s seat on WHO that is. If you don’t pick who, then it’s possible the Court will have to get involved and pick who for you. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t love the idea of the Court doing anything for me – let alone who is going to make healthcare, financial, or legal decisions for me! So, I always tell people – doing an estate plan allows you to be put in the driver’s seat and not doing an estate plan puts you in the backseat without a good view of the road. Maybe puts you in the trunk actually!

Second, along the same lines of what we just discussed, when you do your estate plan, think long and hard about who-goes-where. What do I mean by this? Well, hear me loud and clear – it doesn’t have to be the oldest. Heck, it doesn’t have to be a child at all. You should think long and hard about who will do the best job at health care decisions for you, who will do the best job at financial decisions, and who will be the one in charge after you pass away – you should truly evaluate someone’s skillset (are they good with money and keeping bills afloat? Can they remain calm under pressure if it’s health care decisions? Are they punctual and organized? Or are they the kind that will let mold grow on things?); you should also consider someone’s location (is this the only factor? NO! But it’s good to factor into the decision); you should consider everyone’s relationships (if kids generally don’t get along, for example, maybe consider not putting anyone in charge down the road – and do a third party professional … maybe!); etc.

That’s what I mean about thinking long and hard about it. It should not be a quick “Oh it’s John because he’s the oldest” decision. Give it some thought and be sure you’re putting people in charge of things that will do the best for YOU and be the BEST choice with all things considered.

Third and lastly on the things I wanted to briefly share some thoughts on – what happens if someone surprises all of us and misbehaves? By that, I mean … they do something “bad” like steal from you, don’t act in your own best interest, etc. That happens and me saying it doesn’t happen is flat not true. Sometimes, the people we appoint end up turning into someone we never knew existed. Money is on the table and things go awry. A couple thoughts on this – first, consider putting provisions into your documents that the person in charge has to provide accountings to others (like to their siblings or other beneficiaries) – meaning that every year (or whatever duration), they have to provide a written accounting of everything that has come into your name and everything that has come out (like bills). That will put some checks and balances into place.

Another thing along these lines – bad actors can be held accountable through litigation – sure, I get it, litigation is not ideal. Though, there are no other alternatives on getting it addressed – I guess everyone could go in one room and fight it out or kumbaya. That’s probably not going to happen, or at the very least, be successful. So, unfortunately, sometimes if the harm is bad enough, litigation should be commenced against the bad actor. There are attorneys that will help people explore their options as to whether someone has done something egregious and warrants a lawsuit against them. So, just know this – if you notice something wonky, you can put action behind your complaining and attempt to make things as right as possible (for whatever the bad actor did). Unfortunately, like I said, this stuff happens sometimes and it’s sure a shame, but there are options that an estate litigation attorney can help someone explore.

Alrighty, let’s wrap this episode up, shall we? Next week, we’re back to the “celebrity estate planning” type of episode – and during those types of episodes, we dive into a celebrity or “big name” person that has passed away and how their estate looked from an estate planning perspective. Next week’s episode is about Muhammad Ali – a name most, if not all, should know! As I have blabbed about before on here, sometimes I feel like I’m running out of celebrities to talk about on here – well, I was talking to my Dad (hi Dad!) recently and he was like, “Have you done an episode on Muhammad Ali?” I was like, “Nope! I’ll add it to the podcast calendar!” So, here we are – be sure to tune in to that next week, Legal Tea Listeners, talk to you then and stay well!

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