Jim Morrison’s Estate & the Doors of Perception

Jim Morrison died on July 2 1971, from a heroin overdose with an estate worth $400,000. Some years before he died, Morrison created a will leaving everything to his common law wife, Pamela Courson, and if she failed to survive Morrison by three months, then his assets would pass to his brother and sister.

After Jim Morrison died, his estate was tied up in litigation in probate court. Women came forward claiming that Morrison was the father of their children. The other members of the Doors sued the estate claiming that there were outstanding cash advances that had been paid to Morrison.

In early 1974 the court recognised Courson as Morrison’s heir. Courson died in April 1974 without a Will therefore under intestacy law Jim Morrison’s estate comprising a quarter of the Doors future royalty income, and rights in Morrison’s image passed to her parents.

Jim’s parents alleged his marriage to Pamela was illegitimate as the registration of common-law marriage was not signed, or registered. The Court dismissed the argument.

They then claimed that the Will itself was not valid because Jim lacked capacity at the time of execution, as he was high more often than not.

The test of a Will Maker’s capacity has four elements:

· they must understand the nature and significance of making a will

· have an ability to recall at least in general terms the nature, extent and value of the estate

· be capable of comprehending and appreciating any claims on his estate.

· must not have suffered from a delusion that influenced the terms of the will at the time it was made.

Importantly the test is a legal, not medical one to be determined by

“commonsense judicial judgment on the basis of the whole of the evidence”

If the Will maker was not mentally competent or, was influenced by another person, that the Will does not reflect their wishes; then the Will is invalid. If the Jim’s Will was invalid then under the laws of intestacy the estate would go to his parents.

Morrison’s parents litigation for a share of the estate ended several years later in an out-of-court settlement with the Morrison’s taking half of the royalties and the Courson’s controlling the rights to manage and control Morrison’s image, music, and royalties.

In 1972 Morrison’s label Elektra Records together with his parents and the parents of Pamela Courson founded the Jim Morrison Film Award at UCLA film school, which funds two annual awards for film directing.

In the early 1970’s, things like a persons image and personality rights were not considered particularly important, at the time intellectual property law provided that royalties from Morrison’s lyrics would have ceased in the mid 1990’s however, this has been extended by legislation until at least 2041. Today there is a growing market for products that bear a celebrity’s likeness.

Recently the assets in Jim’s estate were valued at around $80 million.

If Pamela Courson had made a Will she could have directed her estate in a manner that reflected Jim Morrison’s wishes. As it was Mr Courson who controlled Morrison’s image, music and royalties disliked him, however he did a lot to encourage the Morrison mystique by entering into commercial arrangements to exploit his likeness. Morrison’s parents did not have a close relationship with him before he died, with Morrison claiming that his parents were dead yet they received half of his royalties.