The death of a loved one brings many other issues along. We get face to face with the wealth left behind by them, and we have to hold the peace with several other family members while our eyes are still wet with tears. We just head for the will, thinking we can get what we deserve based on it.
Wills may be full of surprises, though. Especially if it’s that of a well-known face. Because the bigger the name is, the larger the fortune gets. So, it’s common to see confusing news and some disputes in the music industry after a famous musician’s death.
A similar type of controversy arose after the passing of the Cars’ Ric Ocasek in 2019. Imagine finding out that you were fully excluded from his will right after losing your husband. This was exactly what Paulina Porizkova experienced at the time. She woke up one morning, checked out on her husband, and found his dead body. She intended to mourn Ocasek’s loss in peace, but the will he left shocked her.
The late musician stated in his will that Paulina and his two eldest sons were not to take a share of his inheritance. The reason why he excluded his sons (Chris and Adam) from the will became more clear in 2020 when they explained that the three of them practically had no relationship. Paulina still thinks he had no reason to exclude her, though.
Paulina and Ric remained under the same roof after announcing they were getting a divorce. Paulina reportedly did not want to leave him alone even after their separation. So, she stayed and was with him in his recovery process after the surgery he had. She was surprised to hear that Ric left her out of his will. He even stated that ‘she abandoned him.’
Porizkova spoke to the Originals podcast in 2021, saying:
“It completely sideswiped me; I had no idea. … I didn’t know how to make heads or tails out of anything. The shock of finding him and the grief of him being dead and then, ‘Oh, guess what? You get no money. He didn’t want you to have [any] money, and he disinherited his two oldest sons.’ So, I was really messed up, and I won’t ever have the answers.”
She did not let it go after finding out about the will. She took legal action to get what she lawfully deserved from Ocasek’s inheritance as their divorce was yet to be completed when Ocasek died. She eventually won. Two years after everything, Porizkova revealed that she fairly received what ‘was hers.’ She refused to specify the amount.
In the same podcast, she explained:
“That [the amount] I cannot tell you, [but] I am gonna be fine. I am gonna be fine. … I settled last week. There you go. … I settled last week with the estate. They were very fair. They gave me what is mine under New York state law, and we’re done.”
Paulina Porizkova was shocked to find Ric Ocasek’s dead body in the house they shared. Things got worse for her when his will was revealed. Porizkova didn’t understand what led Ocasek to exclude her from the will, but she still chose to take legal action and got what she wanted.
