We all were hoping that with the funeral of former Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens QB Steve McNair, the negative stories that have come out since his gruesome murder would go away and he would be allowed to rest in peace. Apparently, that just is not going to happen anytime soon based on more details about the murder weapon as well as his estate. Unfortunately, it appears that McNair died without having a Last Will in place, a fact that astounds most responsible people based on his income for such a long time through his successful NFL career.
One would think that as soon as a professional sports athlete signs a lucrative contract for the first time, his representative, be it his agent or financial planner, would set up his estate in the event of his death, be it at the end of a long life, or due to untimely circumstances. Whoever his agent is or was, should be greatly embarassed for not being involved in getting this done, although it should definitely be taken as a wake-up call for eveyone else in professional sports that has not taken the steps to protect their wealth and estate.
Not having a Last Will may not be such a huge problem for McNair, as he does have a wife who will end up being named executor and the recipient of his estate. However, since he has four children, one would think they would also be named as beneficiaries, but that may not be so. Of McNair's four sons, only two of them were born between him and his current wife. The other two were from McNair's previous marriage to another women. McNair's wife is reportedly just not sure if he is actually even the father of those children, so she did not name them as beneficiaries at this time. However, they do live with the family so the odds are that they will receive the same benefits as the other ones. At the same time, this could have all been avoided as an unnecessary distraction if he had his affairs in order, which should have been taken care of long ago.
On the other front, it was just announced that his girlfriend bought the gun used to kill him from a convicted felon. The guy, whose name shouldn't be given the benefit of gracing these pages, has been arrested and while he might not have known that the gun was being purchased for this type of crime, he did know what he was doing was a violation of his previous crimes and should pay for his part in what has been a terrible chain of unfortunate events.
Please R.I.P. Steve McNair!