Famous Estates - Ernest 'Ernie' Banks

For our second series of famous estates, we will take a look at the Estate of Ernest Banks. Ernest “Ernie” Banks was a professional baseball player for the Chicago Cubs. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977. During his career, he earned the nicknames “Mr. Cub” and “Mr. Sunshine.”

Ernie Banks created his Will and Trust three months before he passed away in January of 2015. When he passed, his estranged wife, Elizabeth Banks, petitioned the probate court to name her as the personal representative of the estate, not knowing that Ernie Banks had an estate plan. To Elizabeth’s surprise, shortly after her petition, Ernie’s long-time caregiver and talent agent, Regina Rice, filed his Last Will and Testament, which named The Ernest Banks Declaration Trust, dated October 17, 2014 as the sole beneficiary of his estate. His Will also contained a disinheritance clause expressly leaving Ernie’s wife and four children out of his estate. Regina Rice, however, was named as the Trustee of the Trust and as a Beneficiary of the Trust.

Elizabeth Banks contested the filed Will claiming undue influence and diminished capacity due to his progressing dementia. Although, the presiding judge ruled that Ernie Banks’ Will was valid in 2015, in 2019, the presiding judge allowed Elizabeth Banks to bring a new cause of action alleging fraud, exploitation and breach of fiduciary duty. The basis for the new cause of action came when it was discovered that either Ernie Banks’ Will may have either been incorrectly dated on execution or that changes were made after the initial Will was signed.

More interestingly, the value of the estate was never properly determined. Upon the initial filing of Ernie’s Will, Regina claimed the estate was valued at a mere $16,000. However, Elizabeth argued that the estate was undervalued and worth closer to a $1,000,000.00. Furthermore, Ernie Banks and his wife were in the middle of a divorce proceeding when he passed away. Unfortunately, we won’t really know what happened since both parties reached a confidential settlement on January 23, 2023; eight years after he passed.