BRENT'S WILL -S.F. CHRONICLE ARTICLE
Software Components Group
S.F. CHRONICLE, August 4, 1990
------------------------------ (F*** their permission)
MUSICIAN KEEPS WIFE, CHILDREN OUT OF HIS WILL
by Jack Rasmussen
Grateful Dead keyboard player Brent Mydland left an estate valued at
$2,163,700, but specifically excluded his estranged wife and two young
daughters from his will, according to probate documents filed in Contra
Costa County Superior Court in Martinez.
"I have intentionally omitted to provide for any person who is an heir of
mine," the 37-year-old Mydland wrote in the will which was executed March
12, 1990.
Mydland was found dead July 26 in his hilltop home in Lafayette. He had
been a keyboardist, singer, and composer with the band since 1979.
The cause of death has not been determined, and the county coroner's office
is awaiting results of toxicological tests.
Mydland's will, filed Thursday by Walnut Creek attorney Ruth Dickerson,
provides no benefits for his wife, Lisa or for their two daughters,
Jennifer, 2, and Jessica, 5.
"I give my entire estate of whatever kind and character to the trustee
... (of) that certain trust designated as the Mydland Family Trust,"
Mydland said in the will, which nominated James Whitmer, an old friend,
as administrator of the estate.
Dickerson declined to discuss the trust or the terms of the will except
to say that the $2,162,700 figure is an estimated value of the musician's
estate. "We have not done an inventory or appraisal," she said.
Among Mydland's assest was his home overlooking the Reliez Valley in
Layfayette, which is estimated to be worth $600,000.
The coroner's office said it will be at least a week before the cause
of Mydland's death is ascertained.
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Sounds like a tax dodge to me!
Reno.
"There's no one safer than some one who doesn't care.
And it isn't even lonely when no one is ever there."
John Whitehead
>
>S.F. CHRONICLE, August 4, 1990
>
>by Jack Rasmussen
>
>Grateful Dead keyboard player Brent Mydland left an estate valued at
>$2,163,700, but specifically excluded his estranged wife and two young
>daughters from his will, according to probate documents filed in Contra
>Costa County Superior Court in Martinez.
>
>"I have intentionally omitted to provide for any person who is an heir of
>mine," the 37-year-old Mydland wrote in the will which was executed March
>12, 1990.
According to a lawyer friend, this is a standard legal convention.
It causes all the property to pass into a private trust, instead of
to the public probate documents, where it can be dealt with without
the scrutiny of the responsible journalists.
>"I give my entire estate of whatever kind and character to the trustee
>... (of) that certain trust designated as the Mydland Family Trust,"
>Mydland said in the will, which nominated James Whitmer, an old friend,
>as administrator of the estate.
See? It all goes to the "Mydland Family Trust." What is that if it
is not a fund for the benefit of the rest of the family?
Sounds like his heirs are not going to be penniless, as this and many
other newspapers have implied.
John Whitehead Internet: j...@neuro.duke.edu
Department of Neurobiology j...@well.sf.ca.us
Duke University Medical Center Bitnet: white002@dukemc
Durham, North Carolina