Actor, sports legend, and suspected murderer O.J. Simpson died on Thursday. His death leaves behind a large unpaid judgment due the families of Nicole Brown Simpson—his ex-wife—and her friend Ron Goldman, for whose deaths he was found liable during a 1997 civil trial following Simpson’s acquittal at his infamous murder trial.
Now that Simpson is dead, chances are high that his private finances will come under public scrutiny as his estate is divided up. Assuming there are any collectible assets, the Brown and Goldman families should see at least some restitution from the decades-old judgment.
The procedure from here looks like this:
Whether Simpson left a will or not, and regardless of the wishes expressed therein, Simpson’s estate will be reviewed by the court—it is almost certain that the Goldman and Brown families will file a petition to force this move. Such a motion will initiate a process called “probate,” where the estate’s assets will be divided between claimants the court deems legitimate. Simpson’s desired heirs will be only be allowed to inherit from the residue left by the probate process.
Such a process is compulsory in Nevada in any case where the estate consists of assets exceeding $20,000 or the deceased owned real estate at the time of his death. The process must be initiated by the family of the deceased within 30 days of the death, after which creditors can initiate the process.
Probate is a state-by-state process. Since Simpson died while a resident of Nevada, it is expected that the primary case will take place there, but secondary probate cases may also emerged in Florida and California, where Simpson may have held significant assets (such as real estate) at the time of his death.
During probate, creditors can seek a cut of the assets. Because the Goldman and Brown families claim due to a court judgment, they will be at-or-near the front of the line relative to other creditors.
