A lawsuit following actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner's death is highlighting a risk financial advisors know well: Estate plans that aren't updated can derail client wishes and cause messy family disputes. As National Make a Will Month draws attention to estate planning, advisors say outdated wills and designations remain a common problem.
After Warner died unexpectedly in July 2025, his widow sued the actor's financial advisor for professional negligence, accusing him of not finalizing drafts to update estate plans. She also sued his mother, trustee of the family trust, saying the actor's daughter should receive trust assets. Some claims related to the estate were settled this month, according to news reports.
Estate-planning oversights can have similar consequences for ordinary families. Stephen Dissette, a Trail Creek, Indiana-based registered investment advisor representative of Horter Investment Management, cited the example of a teacher who initially named her sister as the beneficiary of her 403(b) retirement plan. After getting married and starting a family, she never updated her plans. As a result, after her death, her sister received the funds instead of her husband.
"You have power from the grave where you can determine who gets what and when they get it and if there's certain criteria," Dissette said about estate planning. "If you leave it really vague, look out — you're going to have family members fighting, in many cases, and don't be surprised if lawsuits get brought in."
In such situations, legal fees often end up eroding a "big chunk" of the inheritance, he said. Another complication is that sometimes surviving family members fight over the inheritance.
"I have seen things you wouldn't believe. When people pass away, relatives come out of the woods, so to speak," Dissette said. "It's like out at sea. … They smell blood in the water, and here come the sharks. It's unfortunate, but again, that can all be prevented by very specifically designating your beneficiaries and having a will in place."
While estate plans don't need to be updated every year, advisors say it's smart to revisit clients' plans after milestone events. If people don't record their wishes in a legal will or trust, the state will decide what to do in probate — a process that can take months, Dissette added.
Make preparations, not assumptions
Making sure clients have their estate plans in order early on is important because as they age, cognitive decline or unexpected incapacity can make it impossible or difficult.
Thirty-two percent of U.S. adults said they had created a will, and rates for having a will increase with age, according to a 2025 survey by the Pew Research Center.
"In actuality, everyone has an estate plan, because it's either you wrote it, or your state legislature wrote it," said David Haughton, vice president of estate planning at Omaha, Nebraska-based registered investment advisor Carson Group. "You don't want to leave that to be a gamble."
Further, too many people believe that only people who are married or have children need to do estate planning, he said.
"I think everyone needs an estate plan, and I think if they understood what could happen to everything they've built over their lifetime if they don't plan, I don't think they'd be super pleased if they knew the implications of some of the ways that the state guidelines are going to leave the property," Haughton said.
In some states, spouses automatically inherit (unless they have been explicitly excluded), particularly community property states such as California, said Kristin Yokomoto, Newport Beach, California-based partner at FBT Gibbons who focuses on wealth planning and family office services. That said, married individuals should still record their wishes in a will, she said.
Put it in writing
While survivors might assume they know what a deceased loved one wanted, speculation holds no weight legally.
"Unfortunately, speculation on intention doesn't get people very far," said Rebecca Carter, a principal at Owings Mills, Maryland-based Friedman, Framme & Thrush who manages the firm's LegalShield Department. Failure to update plans can end up in litigation, as in the case of Warner's widow. "Most of the time, [it's] going to come down to … what were the last properly executed documents saying?"
Estate plans shouldn't be "one-and-done" and should be updated after major life events such as marriage, divorce or blended family changes.
"In a world where there is so much remarriage and children from prior relationships, and split families and things, it can get complicated," she said. Her firm encourages clients never to rely on assumptions or outdated legal information.
Updates should also extend beyond wills to non-probate assets, carrying out reviews to make changes like removing an ex-spouse from beneficiary designations.
"Maybe they've redone their will, and they said, okay, now I have it straight, so my assets go to my kids. But if they still have their ex-husband listed as the beneficiary, that's where the money goes," Carter said. And that won't go to court because "a non-probate asset is a direct payout."
Starting the conversation about a will can be difficult, even for experienced professionals.
Despite 25 years as a lawyer, Carter said she felt unprepared managing some account-related aspects of her own "sandwich generation" family.
"No one wants to think about that stuff," she said. "There's this emotional aspect."
