Anthony Bourdain's $1.2M Places Him in Top 10% According to EstateExec

But it could be years before his daughter sees the money…

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Aug 15, 2018, 10:37 ET

SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a recently published study by EstateExec, the leading online software for estate executors, Anthony Bourdain's $1.2M estate, although initially considered surprisingly low by some, was actually in the top 10% of all estates nationwide.

The typical estate is worth between $50-250K at time of death

Bourdain left the bulk of his estate to his 11-year-old daughter, Ariane, but it can take time for the wheels of government to allow an heir access to funds. According to the EstateExec study, it takes 16 months on average to settle an estate, and complex estates can take 5 years or more. Fortunately for Ariane, the court does allow the establishment of a living allowance in the meantime.

In another example, when actor David Cassidy died in 2017, it took more than 6 months to discover that his son Beau stood to inherit almost $1.7M, rather than the $150K the estate was initially believed to be worth.

Charles Dickens immortalized this estate settlement process in his famous Great Expectations novel, in which bickering lawyers fritter away the estate over many years, ultimately leaving the heirs with nothing. In real life, this can happen, but the EstateExec study shows that the average estate is settled with "only" $12.4K of legal and accounting spending.

Unfortunately, the study also shows that family conflict is quite common, with more than 44% of participants reporting that they had experienced or were aware of such conflict. The study lists a number of real-life examples, including a brother and sister that didn't speak to each other for more than 10 years, lawsuits that lasted more than 9 years, a grandfather leaving his entire estate to a young college coed, and more.

The EstateExec study also covers topics such as executor effort, settlement difficulty, compensation, and more. It includes answers from more than 1200 respondents, and had an overall margin of error of +/-3%. More details can be found at www.EstateExec.com/Docs/General_Statistics.

ABOUT EstateExec: Based in Silicon Valley, EstateExec is the leading provider of software for estate executors. EstateExec is revolutionizing the way executors settle their estates: it's fast, easy, secure, and reduces risk of executor error. For more information, visit www.EstateExec.com.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE EstateExec