Hi, welcome everybody, you're watching "Aging Insight" as we were arguing over how to run the computer system.

Sorry. I know you turned it on.

I turned it on. All right we're about to go live on the radio, but we welcome all of our Facebook Live viewers, it should be an interesting show today, hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to "Aging Insight" everybody, this is your host, John Ross, here live in the studio. You're listening to the number one radio program dedicated to all of your estate planning, elder law, retirement, health, housing, financial, legal issues, within our listening area. We're definitely the number one program.

Well, we're definitely the number one program, and I know that John because over the last couple of weeks, I have met lots of people that tell me they listen to the radio show.

Ain't that awesome?

So I really enjoy, you know, when I'm visiting with someone maybe a client or even, you know, just someone I've met in community, and they tell me they listen, makes it all worth getting up here on Saturdays.

Yeah you know, because traditionally the thing about radio is we don't know who's listening out there.

That's right we can't see you.

Unless of course, you give us a call because we are Live, and we do take calls if we could figure out how to work our equipment. And the phone number is 903-793-1071. But for the last several months we're also doing this simultaneously on Facebook Live. If you haven't already, get on Facebook, check out the Ross and Shoalmire Facebook page, or just search for John Ross in Texarkana, I always share it. So you can find us on the web, you can watch your radio Live.

Yeah, that's right.

Right here on Facebook.

Yeah that's right, watch us make radio.

Particularly with a topic like today which we'll get into in a little bit, but with a topic like today, we get to share photos and interesting pictures and stuff like that, which you're just not gonna get with a radio program.

Yeah, right, you just have to imagine it.

That's right.

If you're listening to us, but you know, also John I like to chase rabbits when I get on the Internet, you know. So today as we talk about our topic I know if I were watching the Facebook Live, I would be opening another tab and searching stuff and looking at everything because I'm just...that's the way I am.

Because that's how you are, yes.

Well, of course, we are here on the radio and unlike Facebook, radio costs a bit of a coin.

Yes it does.

To get on the radio. So we wanna say a special thanks to our sponsors, and to Edgewood Manor and the Barnette Agency, Dierksen Memorial Hospice, Cowhorn Creek Estates, CHRISTUS St. Michael, Texarkana Funeral Home, Red River Federal Credit Union, Heritage and Reunion Plazas, I'll give that a plural today, and the Twin City Rehab. We appreciate them, they help us pay the bills.

Yeah, no, that's right. And you know, I would say it was a busy week for both of us, I know I was in Canton on Monday speaking. I was in Longview on Thursday speaking.

And I was in Paris, Texas on Wednesday and Thursday, and I did speak one of those days, but I visited with a lot of clients, because of course, if you listen to our radio advertisement you can hear that we have an office in Paris, Texas.

Yeah, crosstalk 04:02

So I was over in Lamar County, couple days this week.

Yeah, and you know, we do a lot of that stuff, you know, at least for our Facebook viewers. Our radio show doesn't quite extend to Longview yet, but we do have some programs going on in Longview. We're having a open house down there at our Longview office celebrating our third year in business.

That's coming up this Thursday, right, February 1st?

Yeah, that's coming up this Thursday.

I will be at the Four States Fairground on Thursday.

Yes you will because...

Yes, because I am talking to a group of farmers and ranchers and folks that are gonna be in town, I believe with the Arkansas Ag Extension Service. And they wanted me to come out and talk about the special concerns that farmers and ranchers and families have that are in that kind of business.

Yeah and you know, often you see...particularly with your agricultural situations, oftentimes you see a lot of wealth, but that wealth is tied to very illiquid assets.

Yeah like dirt.

Like dirt.

Or, you know, chicken houses.

Right. And in an estate planning context, in a long term care context, those can seriously be in jeopardy. So it's a good thing that you're going out and talking to them. I, that same night, will be the emcee for the annual Tri-state Alzheimer's Alliance Chili Supper.

Yes, and that event is in Texarkana.

It is, that's in Texarkana, it's kind of on the one hand, you know, to support the Alzheimer's Alliance, but to be honest perfectly, primarily the reason we do the Chili Supper now...we've been doing it for years. But it's not our fundraiser, our fundraiser is the big twice as nice Texarkana Wine Festival, that's our big fundraiser.

And that's the first Saturday of May.

And also one of the... Yeah of course...

I mean, if we're gonna mention it we must as well plug it.

That's one of the largest festivals in Texarkana supporting the Alzheimer's Alliance. But we do the Chili Supper every year as a way to just kind of almost say thank you to everybody who supports that organization. And if you would like to support that organization, I do have some drawdown tickets available.

Right, so those are...

Not very many though, we only do a limited number, and I think I'm down to maybe just a couple left.

And those drawdown tickets essentially you throw in 100 bucks for our drawdown ticket, and you can split that up if you and your family, coworkers or somebody. We just need 100 bucks it gets you a ticket, I believe there are only 120 tickets sold.

So that's $12,000 that comes in, and I believe what's the top prize payout, something like?

Yeah.

Top prize payout is about 5,000 bucks.

Yes, so for $100 you get a one in 120 chance of winning $5,000. But John, I have to say, that my favorite thing about the Chili Supper is the chili.

Absolutely.

And I'm not a big chili fan, so...

No, you're really not, which is almost un-American, but getting past that.

Right, but the cooks that...and these of course, a lot of the gentlemen and supporters of the Alzheimer's Alliance they come out, spend all day cooking up that chili and it is good.

Yeah, they do a fantastic job, and beverages and desserts and all kinds of stuff.

So I guess that's the question, can you come out to the Chili Supper without buying a drawdown?

No, that's the way you get in the door.

Oh, I see. Well, I'm just saying it's worth it, that chili is worth it, it tastes good.

That's right, so if you want a drawdown ticket reach out to me separately maybe on Facebook or you can call our office on Monday, if I have any left by then, I'll be happy to sell you one. And if I'm out there might be one or two left out there, I'd have to reach out to some of the other board members. All right, well, we have a pretty interesting topic for you today.

Yeah, it is interesting, so you know, John a lot of times we talk about legal stuff.

We do.

And some of the rules, we think it's interesting but I know it can be a little dry but...

Yeah I had come up with a topic for today, a proposed topic, and it was gonna be a little dry.

Okay. But then I blew you out of water...

Yes you did.

Because for our listeners that also read the "Texarkana Gazette," if you read the "Texarkana Gazette" today on Saturdays edition, there was a little article in there about an estate fight and a battle over the body and remains, and estate property of one Charles Manson.

Yeah, who I think for most folks out there is going to be a household name.

Yeah, unfortunately evil has a name and its name is Charles Manson.

Yes, it has been for a long time.

Yes, since the early 70s.

Yup, but you know, kind of early on kind of a little I guess interesting history on who he was, was kind of active in the Los Angeles music scene.

Yeah, no so you had the Dennis Wilson, Glen Campbell, all those people out there in Los Angeles in the late 60s, early 70s.

Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys?

Yeah, Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Charles Manson was also in this crowd, and apparently a prolific songwriter, and not just a, you know, with a notebook piece of paper type of songwriter, but he actually sold a number of songs. Some of those songs were recorded by...one song was recorded by the Beach Boys. Can't remember the name of it at the moment, and then subsequently we've had other acts like Guns N' Roses, big act in the 80s.

Yeah, trying to be a part of the music scene and stuff. And I'm presuming was already crazy by this point.

Yes.

He just hadn't let the crazy out.

Well, he had a little bit because I think even by the time he was selling songs in Los Angeles he had already spent some time in jail in the California Penal Institutions. So I think there was already some crazy but it had not yet come to full flower, because it was after this time, after his involvement with the song, music industry in L.A. that he formed the cult that became known as the Manson family. And then of course, the rest of that story, the sad story is that the Manson's family devotees were found responsible for I believe seven deaths.

Clearly.

Just keep up.

Clearly, I know, I'm already... I'm as entranced as our listeners.

So Sharon Tate, beautiful blonde actress, model was killed by the Manson family cult followers along with three other people that were in her home that evening, and this is kind of what brought down...they connected it all to the Manson family. The Beatles wrote a song called, "Helter Skelter" that was kind of a take on this murder. But apparently Mr. Manson believed that there was going to be this apocalyptic war, and that these murders were going to be the catalyst to get that war started, so crazy.

He had such mind control.

Yes, he had such mind control that he basically instructed them to... And they were essentially following his bidding.

Yes, so he finally gets tapped for all that, is imprisoned in California, he is given the death penalty, which you know, I don't know where ya'll listeners what you feel about the death penalty, but if there's ever a time to use it perhaps it's with Mr. Charles Manson, but California...

But unfortunately California.

Yeah, unfortunately California. So after he was convicted, and after the death penalty was assessed against him, but before it was carried out, California invalidated the death penalty for any criminals in California. And so the taxpayers of California got the lovely gift of paying for Mr. Manson to live and breathe for the next 50-some odd years.

Yeah, so he's been in the can for a long time but eligible for parole on multiple occasions.

Yeah, you know, even the crazies in California recognized that letting Manson loose on the streets was not a good idea.

And even while in prison, there were still folks out there that were kind of following him.

Claiming he was innocent.

Claiming he was innocent, and still...

Pen pals.

Yeah pen pals, and I guess the assassination attempt of Gerald Ford.

Ah yes, so all of our listeners will know that... I can't remember whether it was Edith or Libby Fromme, she was a Manson cult family member and she attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford.

Well, trying to kill a president is a pretty crazy particularly big act but if that president is Gerald Ford it's like...

Right, and I mean, trying to kill...

Presidents.

I mean, he's just killing golf balls.

Yeah, it's like shooting your neighbor's Basset out.

Right, so thankfully that assassination attempt was not successful. So Manson he was crazy, he was in jail for a long time, he died in 2017. And that, John, is where we are going to start our story today on "Aging Insight."

That's exactly right. So we're going to take a quick break and when we come back we're gonna talk more about the estate affairs of Manson, and we'll as always we'll kind of end this up with what you can learn about it, so stick around we'll be right back. And of course, we're still Live, so yeah, here's our boy Manson right there, yes.

inaudible 15:45 .

There's our boy Manson with the swastika tattoo on the forehead.

Yes, because apparently he thought the big war that was coming in 1970, was a race war. Now I don't know how he figured that the killing of Sharon Tate and Hollywood people were going to spark that war, but that was his thought.

Well, crazy is...

And that's why the swastika I guess.

Yeah, crazy is as crazy does.

There's no logic...

No, that's the whole thing about crazy, it don't matter it's just crazy. Yeah, no, and you know, when you spend that much time in prison it's not like you're accumulating a lot of assets.

Right. I mean, you know, you're not working, you know, so you're not accumulating assets based on your sweat and efforts. So I mean, you know, what does he have? Some clothes, some note books, some...

You know, a lot of times I'll talk to folks, I'll go out and give speeches and stuff, and we'll talk about, you know, we'll talk about estate planning and stuff. And it's pretty common for somebody to say, "You know what? I ain't got enough to worry about." You know, and certainly...

Yeah, "Nobody's gonna fight over my stuff because I'm too poor."

Right, and certainly you would think somebody who...

Spent.

...fifty years...

Decades.

Yeah 60 years in prison certainly wouldn't have anything to worry about or argue about, and yet...

And yet.

And yet here we are, like any gutter SP estate there will be arguments.

Well, and they used to say very...I guess like...what's the word? I mean, Manson he's very...a lot of notoriety, I guess.

A lot of notoriety.

But you know, he's dead, so what's that gonna do you now.

Yeah, you certainly wouldn't think it would do much good. But yeah, there's always an...I mean, even in our own practice, you know, we have had folks who have gone so far as to get into actual physical fights over stuff like the deer meat in the freezer, a ball cap that belonged to their daddy, all kinds of stuff.

And I know earlier I guess a few months ago we talked about the Hugh Hefner estate, so something about these notorious folks.

Well, first of all, they're a little bit interesting, plus you can always learn so much from them. All right, well, we're about to go Live, so stick with us, got about five seconds left.

Welcome back everyone to "Aging Insight," this is Lisa Shoalmire, I'm here Live with you on this Saturday afternoon here with John Ross. We are Elder Law Attorneys here in the Four States region, and today we are talking about; thankfully, a person who did not reside in the Four States area, California can keep him. But we're talking about Charles Manson today, and I know some of you who may have just turned in may think, "Well goodness, what does that have to do with anything..."

Yeah, "What in the world does that have to do with Aging Insight?" Well, like in so many other situations when somebody dies there's opportunity for a fight.

Right, so Manson spent five-plus decades in the California Prison, he came up for parole a number of times but they never did parole him. He died I believe he was 83, 84, or something like that. He died and there are now fights going on in the California courts, particularly in the Los Angeles district over his body, first of all.

Yeah, I mean, there's plenty of fights to come in fact, but we're just now starting the fight over the body.

Yeah, so apparently Manson died in a Bakersfield California hospital, which is a different county than where he lived in prison.

Which is a different county than where he lived prior to going to prison.

Right, so one of the questions, the very first question always people are fighting about is what court is going to decide these issues. And John, I don't even have the first clue in California how that goes, but it just goes to show that you can fight over things that just even seem to be irrelevant to the estate.

Right, although you know, again, even in our personal practice, I know we've had the battle over the body.

We have.

On a couple of occasions.

It seems like one of those occasions we ended up having to get a restraining order and serve it on one of our sponsors and advertisers...

We did.

Not that they did anything wrong.

They didn't do anything wrong but we had to stop the funeral before they interred the body. And that was a particularly interesting situation which we could go into another time. But, I guess probably one of the additional points on this is, you know, so often you will see people put in a Will, right, they'll have a will and...

After a Christian like burial...

And then, yeah, it will say something like, you know, my first instructions are that I have a Christian like burial or...

Or that I wanna be cremated.

Or that I wanna be cremated, but they're putting their burial wishers into a last Will and testament.

And that document is not going to see the light of day or be legally declared valid for weeks after you die.

Right again, remember a unprobated Will is a useless unenforceable piece of paper that does nobody any good whatsoever. So putting burial instructions into a Will that on a good day, would take 10 to 14 days following the date of death before it would even become enforceable, that's a lot of time for you to be...

On ice.

Just like Charles Manson is right now.

Just like Charles Manson is, so the first thing we can learn from the estate of Charles Manson is don't put your burial instructions in your Will.

Yeah, and if you know there's going to be a problem, you know, do some specific burial instructions in a document that can be immediately dealt with at the funeral home, or the people who are gonna have your body. In Texas we call that a statement about your disposition of remains, it is a separate document from your Will. So yeah, lesson number one, don't rely on your Will to carry out your burial wishes.

That's right, so we have to take our bottom of the hour newsbreak. We appreciate all of ya'll listening, hope you'll come back with us for more about the Manson estate, stick around.

Right, and of course, we're still Live on Facebook, so we'll give ya'll the... What was the radio show? Paul Harvey, we'll give you the rest of the story. We had a man, he had a couple of kids, the man was from the Northeast.

Yeah, Pennsylvania.

All of his kids were from the north, bunch of Yankees; he had one daughter that had been kind of on the outs.

Yes, and that was actually a half daughter, I mean, it was his daughter but he was not... Anyway, and she lived in our area here in Texas.

Yes.

And as this gentleman got older and sicker he decided he wanted to visit, you know, his daughter here in Texas, you know, make amends, that kind of thing. Well, he came to Texas for a visit and during his visit, John, as I recall this daughter took him to an attorney and had him execute a power of attorney in her favor. I think had him make...perhaps even execute a Will in her favor.

Yeah, cut off all contact.

Yeah, cut off contact with his other children up in Pennsylvania and...

Then because of his age and stage although he was able to travel he was not really able to get around on his own, he needed a significant amount of assistance.

And then after a couple weeks here visiting getting all that paperwork done he died here in Texas.

That's right.

And when he died the daughter here did not immediately inform the family up in Pennsylvania, but I don't remember how it came about that they came to know that their father had passed. But the daughter here in Texas instituted and commenced funeral and burial arrangements here in Texas to bury him at a local Texas cemetery. And I believe he had two or three children in the northeast up in Pennsylvania, and they ended up...the kids in Pennsylvania hired us to dispute the burial of this man here in Texas. And you have to work fast when it comes to a burial situation.

Yeah, certainly.

And whenever you say you have to work fast in a legal environment, you have to get restraining orders to stop burials and funerals, you just need to think about cha-ching because it was quite costly as I recall for both families...

Yes, it was.

...to deal with this, and John, the court did in fact issue a restraining order to stop that burial, and then held a hearing within a day or two. And the court heard all the evidence including this gentleman's pre-plans that he had already done up in Pennsylvania, he had a burial plot, he had a funeral contract, and despite the documents that the daughter in Texas had assisted the gentleman with completing while he was here, the judge found that the gentleman intended to be buried in Pennsylvania. But you know, tens of hours, thousands of dollars, I bet that family didn't exchange Christmas cards the next year either.

Probably not, that probably was the end of that. All right, well, we are coming back from our news break on the radio portion of "Aging Insight." And again, appreciate our viewers sticking with us. All right, I'll let ya'll listen to our intro music here.

Well, welcome back to "Aging Insight" everybody, this is your host John Ross here Live in the studio, and we are Live, so if you have a question or comment you can always give us a call. The phone number is 903-793-1071, it's 903-793-1071. And today, we're learning some lessons from somebody that you would never think you would learn a lesson from, other than how not to do stuff.

Right, so today we're talking about Charles Manson the known serial killer, and who died in a California prison in 2017. And now there is a big battle brewing over both his remains which are currently still in refrigeration with the...I believe, I don't know, Los Angeles coroner, or someplace over there in California, have not yet been disposed of. Also there is a battle over who the proper heirs of his estate are, and whether or not he had a valid Will. And so John, I see this battle going on for a while but I guess...

Yeah, I do too.

One of the questions is, Charles Manson, does he have a valid Will? Why in the world... I mean, he's been in prison, it's not like he can go down to his corner attorney's office and just have one drawn up. So what's the story there?

Right, you know, there's lots of ways you can make a Will.

Sure, and in Texas you can do one completely in your own handwriting...

That's right.

No witness is required.

No witness is required, so what's called a holographic Will, just has to be entirely in your handwriting and signed.

We don't have one of those exactly in the Manson case.

No, what we do have is a 2012 maybe I believe, is a 2000...

2000...there's a couple of different Wills actually, there's a 2002 Will.

2002, that's what I was thinking, not 2012. There's a 2002 Will, which if you're watching on Facebook I'm going to show right now, there it is. That's the actual copy of the 2002 Will, this is a typewritten instrument, as I understand it California law is much the same as it would be in both Texas and Arkansas, that if the Will is not entirely in your own handwriting it must have at least two, "Disinterested witnesses."

And disinterested is one of those legal words John, that means if you're going to witness someone's Will you shall not be a beneficiary of said Will. So you are disinterested, you know, we don't want people witnessing Wills to which they receive a share of the estate, because maybe that would inspire them to hurry up the demise of the testator. So disinterested witnesses are people who do not receive anything under the Will.

Yeah, and this particular 2002 Will, it was...actually, this was part of...there's a guy out there and his name is also...it's also Charles, I guess.

Charles Channel.

No, Michael Channels.

Michael Channels.

Michael Channels.

All right, so Michael Channels, he had pursued a pen pal relationship there with Charles Manson, and apparently he had written over 50 letters in prison before Manson ever responded. But then Manson did respond and they struck up a correspondence.

And this Michael Channels person here, he's a collector of what's called murder abilia.

Murderbilia.

Murderbilia.

You know so it's memorabilia but instead of the good positive line, the slang murderbilia means that you're kind of weird, and you like to collect things that have been in the possession of, or somehow connected to mass murder serial killers.

Yeah, and there is a market out there for such items.

Yeah.

As creepy and weird as that is, there is a market for such things.

Yeah, apparently just last year or so, a bed frame that was connected to one of Charles Manson's murders just a bed frame sold for $14,000 at auction, because it had that Manson murder connection. I mean, what kind of sick world do we live in?

No, that's exactly right, at our office in Texarkana and this is not some something we keep in a back room, but I had gone to a garage sale one day, and this was when my kids were very young. And there's this painting of Mickey Mouse.

Yeah, I know the one you're talking about.

And so I...

That got Mickey and Minnie on the dance board.

Mickey and Minnie. And there was this nice lady that was having this garage sale and she was a retired lady. And in her retirement she did a prison ministry which I only found this out later. But I'm at the garage sale I see this painting of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, I pick it up, I ask her how much she wants for it. She wants a quarter.

That's a garage sale find right there.

That's a steal and it's a cute little picture, so I give her my quarter and I figure, hey, I've just gotten my two little girls a Minnie and Mickey Mouse painting, and it was clearly hand painted.

Yeah, so cute.

I get home and I'm looking at the painting and it's got some initials from the artist, and on the back of it it's got some handwritten information about the artist, the artist name, and it and says a guy named Randle Robinson, and then it has an address McAlester, Oklahoma. And then it says OSPDR McAlester, Oklahoma, OSPDR. And I thought about it, and I thought about this lady having her prison ministry, and I thought about what I know about McAlester, Oklahoma, and all of a sudden it kinda dawned on me that that was probably Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

crosstalk 33:52 ...

And the DR, Death row...

Death row, nice.

And sure enough, this painting was done by one of the first people executed by the electric chair after the death penalty was reinstated in Oklahoma.