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Free Love Cost Jerry Garcia

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Image by CLender via Flickr

Image by CLender via Flickr

The Grateful Dead

The American band, The Grateful Dead, is synonymous with a musical movement so unique that it is still celebrated today.  The Grateful Dead’s commitment to that sound and fan base spreads over three decades.  Loyal fans who followed the Grateful Dead were uniquely dubbed dead heads.

The children of these adults continued the tradition following the Grateful Dead tours during the 1990′s.  Fans would flock to hear the Grateful Dead play and witness a true sense of ‘free love’ among the crowds.

Price of Free Love

Sadly, in the end, free love cost Jerry Garcia’s estate a fortune.  In August 1995, while Garcia was in a California drug rehabilitation facility, he died of a heart attack.  Garcia had been in and out of drug rehabilitative centers for a couple of decades and had battled diabetes as well.  When Garcia died he had been married to Deborah Koons for 18 months.  Garcia’s death left Koons a substantial fortune.

Immediately after Garcia’s death, significant claims on the inheritance surfaced.

The Plaintiffs

Claim #1

Image by mrebert via Flickr

Image by mrebert via Flickr

The first claim came from Garcia’s previous wife of 12 years, Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Adams Garcia, with whom Garcia had two daughters. When Jerry Garcia and Carolyn Adam’s marriage ended, they wanted to ensure they separated amicably.  Garcia wrote Adams a letter that mentioned Garcia would pay Adams $5 million dollars over a number of years.

The issue the Garcia Estate had the Adam’s claim was that Carolyn and Jerry had casually agreed on the lump sum via the letter from Jerry.  Deborah Koons challenged the validity of the letter, but the judge sided with Adams.  In 1998, Adams settled for a lump sum of $1.25 million from Garcia’s Estate.

Claim #2

A second claim surfaced from former girlfriend Manasha Matheson, with whom Garcia had a daughter.  The relationship took place while Garcia was briefly separated from Adams.

When the relationship soured, Garcia and Manasha created a formal Trust agreement, but the agreement wasn’t approved before his death.  Koons reduced Matheson’s payments by 85%, and Matheson took the Garcia Estate to court.  Matheson and the Garcia Estate came to a private settlement.

 Claim #3

The third claim came from Barbara Meier who had known Garcia since the 1960′s. She had financially supported Garcia during his early rock days and purchased his first guitar.

Meier and Garcia reconnected by coincidence at a health food store during the 1990′s and began a relationship.  When the relationship deteriorated, Garcia and Meier made a verbal agreement toward payment for the years she carried his financial weight.

Their reconnection in the 1990′s was bitter sweet.  When their relationship ended, Garcia promised to provide Meier with $108,000 for helping him begin his career.  Garcia made payments toward the $108,000, and only $21,000 remained to be paid when Garcia died.  When Deborah Koons stopped payment on the agreement, Meier took the Garcia Estate to court.  The judge honored Garcia’s verbal agreement, and Meier was paid the $21,000 balance.

The Undead

Image by oddsock via Flickr

Image by oddsock via Flickr

The remaining members of the Grateful Dead prided themselves on harmony and peaceful transactions that drew connections from karmic law.  As a band, the Grateful Dead was careful to keep personal issues private and not air each other’s dirty laundry.

The way Deborah Koons exposed these verbal agreements went against every Grateful Dead principal. She was labeled the ” Black Widow” by the Grateful Dead  community.

 

Estate Planning Lessons

Multiples marriages coinciding with multiple sets of children is an estate planning nightmare.  If your estate plan does not adequately provide for a number of spouses and for the children from the previous marriage(s) in a way that tries to achieve equality, you are basically buying a litigation case.  Garcia is just one of many celebrities whose Brand was tarnished by the way the estate was handled.

It is important to note that actions like making a simple amendment to your will or trust can save your family from disaster.  Jerry Garcia was into Free Love, but in the end Free Love and no estate planning cost Jerry Garcia a bundle.

The post Free Love Cost Jerry Garcia appeared first on ElderAuthority.com.


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