LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — OJ Simpson died Thursday without paying the lion’s share of the $33.5 million judgment a California civil jury awarded to the families of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her boyfriend Ron Goldman .
Simpson was acquitted at a criminal trial and found liable by jurors in a 1997 wrongful death lawsuit.
The public will now likely get a closer look at Simpson’s finances, and the families will likely have a better chance of collecting – if there is anything to collect.
This is how the next few months could go.
Whether or not he left a will, and whatever that document says, Simpson’s assets will now almost certainly have to go through the so-called probate process in court before his four children or other intended heirs can collect on any of them.
Different states have different inheritance laws. Generally, the case is filed in the state where the person lived when he died. In Simpson’s case, that’s Nevada. But if significant assets are in California or Florida, where he has also lived several times, separate cases may arise there.
Nevada law states that an estate must be processed through the courts if the assets exceed $20,000, or if real estate is involved, and this must be done within 30 days of the death. If a family fails to submit documents, creditors can initiate the process themselves.
Once the case goes to court, creditors who say they are owed money can claim some of the assets. The Goldman and Brown families will at least be on equal footing with other creditors, and will likely have an even stronger claim.
Under California law, creditors with a lien, such as the plaintiffs in the wrongful death case, are considered to have secured debts and have priority over creditors with unsecured debts. And they are in a better position to get paid than they were before the suspect’s death.
Arash Sadat, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in property disputes, says it is “100%” better for the plaintiff if the debtor is deceased and his money is in probate.
He said his firm had a jury trial where their clients were awarded a $9 million jury award, which the debtor appealed and postponed indefinitely.
“He did everything he could to avoid having to pay this debt,” Sadat said. ‘Three or four years later he died. And within weeks, the estate hands out a check for twelve million dollars. That is the $9 million plus interest I had accrued during this period.”
The executor or administrator of the estate has much more incentive to forgive debts than the living person. “That’s why you see things like this happening,” Sadat said.
But of course that does not mean that payment will follow.
“I think it’s going to be quite difficult for them to collect,” attorney Christopher Melcher said. “We don’t know what OJ has been able to earn over the years.”
Neither Sadat nor Melcher are involved in Simpson’s estate or the lawsuit.
Simpson said he lived solely on his NFL and private pensions. Hundreds of valuables were seized as part of the jury award, and Simpson was forced to auction off his Heisman Trophy, which raised $230,000.
Goldman’s father Fred Goldman, the lead prosecutor, always said it was never about the money, just about holding Simpson accountable. And he said in a statement Thursday that with Simpson’s death, “the hope for real accountability has ended.”
There are ways a person can use trusts established during their lifetime and other methods to ensure that their chosen heirs receive their assets back upon death. If such a trust is irrevocable, it can be extremely strong.
But transfers of assets to others made to avoid creditors could be considered fraudulent, and plaintiffs like the Goldman and Brown families could file separate civil lawsuits challenging those assets.