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When Disinheritance Is Not What It Seems: The Last Will And Testament Of Burt Reynolds

An example of when disinheritance, or at least no inheritance, is not as bad as it seems.

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(Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Hollywood has lost another icon. Burt Reynolds — legally known as Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. — actor in American classics such as Smokey and the Bandit, Deliverance, and Boogie Nights, passed away in Florida at the age of 82. Reynolds is the latest celebrity decedent whose estate planning has made news. Although Reynolds, unlike Aretha Franklin and Prince,  was wise enough to deal with his mortality from a trusts-and-estates perspective, his death’s headlines, probably unintentionally, highlight an alleged disinheritance of his only son, Quinton Anderson Reynolds.

“Disinherited” is a word that no one ever wants to hear, especially when your father is a Hollywood superstar. The question in Reynolds’s case is why was Quinton, his only son, disinherited? Generally, one is disinherited as a final punishment, the final word uttered by the decedent to an estranged child or straying spouse. At first glance, this disinheritance is puzzling because Reynolds was close with his son, despite his tumultuous relationship with ex-wife, Loni Anderson. Just this past July, Reynolds gushed to Closer Weekly about Quinton: “He is my greatest achievement.”

Reynolds’s last will is an example of when disinheritance, or at least no inheritance, is not as bad as it seems. In reference to Quinton, Reynolds’s last will states: “I intentionally omit him from this, my Last Will and Testament, as I have provided for him during my lifetime in my Declaration of Trust.” First, it is noteworthy that Reynolds was a Floridian. Trusts are a popular estate planning vehicle in the Sunshine State and are often preferred over last wills and testaments due to their privacy and administrative ease upon death. If executed properly, they can help beneficiaries avoid probate.

When one creates a revocable trust, all individually held assets are transferred into the trust. The trustee, on behalf of the trust, owns the asset. The creator of the trust, sometimes referred to as “grantor” or “settlor,” can also serve as the trustee throughout her lifetime. In a revocable trust, the grantor can amend or revoke the trust at any time. The trustee manages the assets of the trust, whether it is real property or financial accounts. Generally, the settlor will have beneficial interest of all trust assets while she is living. Upon her passing, the assets are distributed pursuant to the terms of the trust, much like a last will and testament.

For a celebrity, a trust provides significant privacy. Unlike a last will, a trust is not filed in the probate court when the settlor dies. Although the media can review Reynolds’s last will which is public record, they cannot review the referenced trust. Because the trust is not filed in court, next of kin are not notified. This makes it difficult for any excluded relatives to challenge the trust and its provisions.

There are many types of trusts used for a variety of reasons. Sometimes trusts are established as a result of litigation or even divorce. One could establish a trust for the benefit of a child to provide for education expenses. Federal and state laws provide for the establishment of special needs trusts for individuals with specific disabilities. The purpose of these trusts is to protect a beneficiary who receives governmental benefits, like Social Security or Medicaid, so that any inheritance will not jeopardize her eligibility. Some news outlets suggest that Reynolds established a trust for Quinton to save on tax. Generally, revocable trusts do not have any tax advantages. Also Reynolds’s estate, estimated at $5 million, does not warrant an estate tax.

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In Reynolds’s case, we do not know if Quinton is actually included in the referenced trust because it is not public. If a trust does exist and if that vehicle holds assets belonging to Reynolds, it is possible that the last will and testament will not govern the distribution of any assets. Best practice is to draft a last will and testament to distribute assets that may have been inadvertently excluded from the trust. The companion last will often bequeaths any individually held assets into the trust, post-death, so that the assets are distributed in accordance with the trust, the main testamentary vehicle.

Reynolds’s character, truck driver Bo “Bandit” Danville, may very well have been talking about inheritance when he states his famous line in Smokey and the Bandit: “For the good old American life: For the money, for the glory and for the fun…mostly for the money.”  Reynolds may have had this in mind when he established his estate plan. From the little we know, we should assume that Reynolds’s goal was to provide for his son in a private manner. Unfortunately Reynolds’s seemingly sound planning has given rise to suspicion and a lot of headlines, likely not anticipated by Reynolds.

Cori A. Robinson is a solo practitioner having founded Cori A. Robinson PLLC, a New York and New Jersey law firm, in 2017. For more than a decade Cori has focused her law practice on trusts and estates and elder law including estate and Medicaid planning, probate and administration, estate litigation, and guardianships. She can be reached at [email protected]. 

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