Simpson estate uncertain following his death. Will Brown, Goldman families get what they're owed?

'It's my hope that the Goldmans get zero,' said Simpson's longtime attorney, who has been named as executor.

ByIke Ejiochi ABCNews logo
Monday, April 15, 2024
New details emerge about O.J. Simpson's estate | Will the victim's families get any of it?
There are new questions after his death about whether the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman will get what they're owed.

LAS VEGAS -- There is a looming showdown over O.J. Simpson's estate after the disgraced former football star died last week after battling prostate cancer.

Now, there are new questions about whether the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman will get the millions of dollars they're owed.

Simpson's last will and testament was filed in a Nevada court on Friday.

His estate has been placed in a newly created trust with his longtime attorney Malcolm Lavergne as executor. Lavergne says he does not know how much the estate is worth.

"Personal belongings, anything they had like -- that is going to be part of the estate. So, there will be -- I will be doing inventorying and trying to see what is out there," Lavergne said.

Simpson was infamously acquitted in a criminal trial for the brutal 1994 stabbing deaths of his ex-wife and her friend.

But he wasn't off the legal hook. In 1997, Simpson was found liable for the slayings in a civil suit and ordered to pay more than $33 million in damages, however, Simpson only paid a fraction.

RELATED: If O.J. Simpson's assets go to court, Goldman, Brown families could be first in line

Now the Goldmans want what they're legally owed.

"Our family will follow the law, as we always have; we will continue to do our due diligence," said Goldman's sister Kim told ABC News.

"It's my hope that the Goldmans get zero," Lavergne said, suggesting the estate needs to take care of other things first, including his former client's "substantial" IRS debt.

"There's going to be a notice to creditors. When those claims come in, we will deal with them and they'll be in a pecking order," Lavergne added.

RELATED: The rise and fall of O.J. Simpson

Simpson had an estimated net worth of upwards of $10 million in the early 90s. But after his fall from grace, he mostly lived off of his NFL pension and actor's union residuals, which reportedly earned $400,000 a year

"Uncle Sam is going to be first, right? And depending on the assets, if he owed taxes, it could be a situation where after the taxes are paid, it's next to nothing left," said Thomas Valentino, an entertainment lawyer with Ajamie LLP. "So then if you're the Goldmans, you have to calculate is this even worth doing."