Celebrity Estates: Jimi Hendrix

When Jimi Hendrix died at 27 years old, he had few assets, no spouse, no children, owed back taxes, and had various other debts. Also, he had no estate planning in place. On the one hand, with more debt than assets, there might be little reason for someone in Jimi’s situation to get a will or revocable living trust. On the other hand, Hendrix was just about to release Purple Haze, a record that would catapult his name into rock and roll history.

Because he had no plan in place, his estate had nowhere to go but to his estranged father. Over 30 years of litigation has occurred over the estate. It is a tragedy when anyone dies young, and even worse when the estate they leave behind cripples a family.