GF&M’s William Kelleher and Christina Smith Pen New Article Examining the Estate Plan Dramatized in the Acclaimed Television Show House of Guinness

Bill Kelleher and Christina Smith wrote the article titled Bloodlines, Beneficiaries, and the Black Stuff: How Sir Benjamin Guinness’s Estate Plan Preserved a Dynasty—and What It Teaches Us About Modern Succession Law, which was published in the March/April 2026 Edition of the ABA Probate & Property Magazine. The article discusses the strategic approach to estate planning in Sir Benjamin Guinness’s 1868 will, which was quite forward-thinking for its time. In so doing, the authors consider how Mr. Guinness’s nineteenth-century testamentary planning can still be a useful guide when applying modern approaches to business succession, conditional bequests, and intergenerational wealth preservation.

Bloodlines, Beneficiaries, and the Black Stuff is the co-authors’ second recent article examining notable historical wills that captured public interest following depictions in popular television dramas. The co-authors’ earlier article, titled My Lady Jane, a King’s Will, and Undue Influence on a Testamentary Instrument, was published in, and also chosen as the cover article of, the January/February 2025 Edition of the ABA Probate and Property Magazine.