# 3. TAKAHACHI, East Village, December 26, 2006

        We walked  to Takahachi the night after Christmas.  When we arrived, the usual warm buzz was punctuated with a funky beat.

    Then we saw the day’s special: the James Brown Rest-in-Peace Roll. 

    My husband Tom talked about how popular James Brown was in Asia.  I didn’t know.  But I knew I loved his music.
 
    We ate our Rest-in-Peace Roll.

    For a few days Brown rested  in peace at the Apollo -- and  we on East 9th Street.  It would be the last peaceful rest James Brown or I would have for 7 years.

    I missed most of the early James Brown events -- the competing factions on the Larry King Live Show; the drama at the gates of Brown’s Beech Island mansion; the  press release about the 5-man legal team companion Tommie Rae had assembled.

    Then one of Tommie Rae’s attorneys - a professor and friend - called. Judge Doyet “Jack” Early, presiding over James Brown’s case in Aiken County, was going to appoint a special administrator for Brown’s Estate. Could he submit my name?
   
    Why not?

    But I had one hesitation. Another mansion in tiny Beech Island, SC – now a State Park – was the home of my great, great grandfather  – also James -- an outspoken slaveholder. 

    I decided that was my ancestor’s problem.  Not mine. I told him yes. 

    Bob was nominated by attorneys for Brown’s original trustees, David Cannon, Buddy Dallas and Al Bradley. (I later learned they opposed my appointment.)

    After a telephone interview with Judge Early and  counsel, Judge Early appointed Bob and me limited, non-fiduciary SAs in a March 7, 2007 order. Our role: to keep an eye on the assets.

    We invited all to meet with us on March 19 to share concerns.  Atlanta attorney Louis Levenson and others came.  They had lots to say about the Cannon Group. 
       
    The Cannon Group didn’t come.  But they had been busy.  By March 26:

        1.  David had bought a $200,000 lot for his retirement home on Roatan Island.
        2.  Powell Goldstein was hired to advise them about “all Schedules B;” and
        3. Grandson Forlando had fired Levenson and aligned himself with the Cannon Group.

Next Post: March 26, 2007. Red-Faced and Banging on the Table

# 2 1999. James Brown - Ready to Create a Legacy

         QUESTION:     

                 How much of James Brown’s assets should the Attorney General give to challengers claiming Buddy Dallas and David Cannon unduly influenced  Brown to give his music empire to the “ I Feel Good” Foundation?

       AG’s ANSWER:    

                52 ½%; and a  right to buy Brown’s assets at "fair market value." Then value Brown's worldwide music empire at $4.7 million.

                If the AG’s answer makes you laugh, don’t.  Consider crying.
   
               From 2008 until 2013 only a handful of people dared to challenge the AG’s answer -- or the AG’s right to take over and give away Brown’s private property.

               But there was simply no reason for the State’s official charged with the protection of charities  to dismember what was about to be S.C.’s largest private foundation dedicated solely to the education needy students.  The undue influence claim had no basis.

               In 1999 Brown was 65.   He had been working with estate planner Dewain Herring since 1996.  He and financier David Pullman were publicizing Brown’s $100 million music empire and touting a sophisticated financing deal.

               Brown was slowing down.  But not stopping.  He never did.

              On February 24th Brown made the tape of his intention to create the “I Feel Good” Trust, but delayed signing.

             On June 11 Brown was in New York to close the Pullman deal. Brown got a $26 million loan from the New York Teachers ( “TIAA”), pledging the rights to 800+ songs.
   
             Four days later, on June 15, Brown executed the first “I Feel Good” Trust.

            The 1999 estate plan would be almost identical to his final 2000 estate plan:

            1.  Personal and Household effects to 6 of his dozen or so children;

            2.  (By formula) $285,000 education trusts to the 7 children of the 6;

            3.  Everything else to the “I Feel Good” Foundation.

             Small changes on August 1, 2000 in the plan and execution of an irrevocable trust left four separate documents executed over two years to confirm Brown’s wishes. Memoranda of the 2000 Trust were filed in two states. Brown’s plan was ironclad.

            When challenges erupted seven years later, Buddy Dallas would say: “If James Brown were here, this would be over in fifteen minutes.”  But Brown was not there.

#1 The Accidental Advocate

    Fifteen years ago, on February 24, 1999, entertainer James Brown made what may turn out to be the most important recording of his life.

    It was evening. Brown was with his longtime attorney Albert “Buddy” Dallas; his trusted financial adviser David Cannon; his cousin Willie Glenn; and his friend and assistant Linda Ware.                .

     Estate planning lawyer Dewain Herring had come from Columbia, S.C.

    After years of planning, Brown was getting ready to set up his “I Feel Good” Foundation – to give his $100 million music empire solely to educate needy students. He would sign it the next day.

    The family knew about it.  Daughter Deanna had helped gather names and information about the seven grandchildren for whom Brown was creating $285,000 education trusts. Brown’s wife Adrienne, before her death in 1996, had encouraged the creation of the “I Feel Good” Trust.

    Brown’s voice tape of his plans to set up the “I Feel Good” Trust the next day is pure James Brown: preachy; staccato; down home.    Brown speaks of having arrived despite obstacles; of being a 7th grade dropout; of giving back like the Kennedys.

    Brown reminds that there will be multiple copies made of the tape, so that it can be “checked for any hanky panky.”
          
    Brown – who always controlled the schedule – announces on the tape that he will not sign the next day.  Reminding all that he is a 7th grade dropout, he will take the documents home and study them.

    He did. 

    The “I Feel Good” Foundation was set up on June 15, 1999 with a will and revocable trust.  It  was tweaked, and the “I Feel Good” Trust  made irrevocable, the following year – August 1, 2000.

    Brown died on Christmas day 2006.  Several months later Bob Buchanan and I were appointed by the Court as limited Special Administrators of his estate. We remained involved in the Brown estate in various capacities until May of 2013.  Bob and I became two of the most loyal defenders of Brown’s estate plan.

    This blog deals with that experience. Most importantly, it will address how a five-year intervention and takeover by the State’s Attorney General has impacted the “I Feel Good” Trust.

    Post #2.  1999. James Brown; Ready to Create A Legacy.