Estate planning lessons from the famous faces we lost in 2025

AS THE end credits of 2025 start rolling, let’s look at a few of the famous faces who left us and the legacies they leave.

- GRANT FIETZE

AS 2025 draws to a close, we remember iconic figures like Robert Redford, Ozzy Osbourne, and Diane Keaton who left us this year. Beyond their fame, their estate planning choices reveal valuable lessons.

(FILE)

Some of the big names who disappeared from stage and screen this year include Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Diane Keaton, Ozzy Osbourne, David Lynch, Brian Wilson, George Foreman, Val Kilmer, Michael Madsen, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and our own Presley Chweneyagae.

While they were famous figures, they also did their personal planning away from public view, and it is this that will largely shape their legacies. There’s a lesson from each of them that we can apply, even if we don't have Oscar statuettes, platinum-selling albums, or world title belts!

Redford died aged 89 with an estimated net worth of $200 million. His fortune was built on decades of acting, directing, and producing films, and founding the Sundance Film Festival. He had sold the Sundance Mountain Resort in 2020, reducing the size and complexity of his estate. Redford is said to have left a detailed will that is believed to use his vast fortune to take care of his loved ones, as well as support the causes that he was passionate about. The work of his conservation and arts charities will outlive him and ensure that his legacy lives on, a great example of how your life's work can endure long after you're gone.