Brad Lund In January of 2022, Brad Lund's lawyer
and advisor, Lanny Davis, released a letter to the PR news. The letter has one obvious,
rather vindictive statement from Brad: do not sell my ranch, more accurately his half of the ranch.
Brad shares the 110-acre ranch, nestled in the Teton mountain range in Wyoming,
with his little sister Michelle. The trustees have attempted to sell the
ranch a few times over the years. Now, they are trying to sell Brad's half
to an undisclosed third-party buyer for millions of dollars.
However, Brad has no intention of selling his ranch. In the letter,
he declares to the four current trustees that they will not sell his ranch. He orders them
to stop trying to hide the details, such as the buyer, the closing date,
and the closing location, which Brad says violates their agreement. If the sale goes through,
Brad will lose half of the ranch and the piece of family history that comes with it.
Brad's father, Bill Lund, built the ranch over 40 years ago for his family. When Brad's mother,
Sharon Disney, the youngest daughter of Walt Disney, died in 1993, she put the Teton ranch
into a trust fund along with the inheritance she received from her father. Technically,
the trust owns the ranch. The Trustees don't plan on giving it back anytime soon.
Simply put, trusts are how rich parents can give their kids their inheritance. The money or
property gets put in a trust fund, and the parents appoint trustees. Those trustees are responsible
for the money in the fund and must give it to the children once they're of age. However,
if the trustees don't think the child can handle it, they can withhold the assets in the trust.
For now, Brad can only talk about what he would do at his father's ranch. He's described horseback
riding and driving ATVs through the valleys and up the Teton mountains. He wants to go
snowmobiling in the winter, and apparently, the fishing is excellent too. But the most
important thing of all is maintaining the family legacy, something that could be sold any day now.
Meanwhile, the trustees aren't trying to sell Michelle's half. In fact, when Brad offered
to buy her share in the property, they refused. The trustees have been doing this for 15 years:
leaching off Brad while giving Michelle everything she's owed within the trust
agreement. But the past 15 years are only part of the story. The Brad Lund
saga truly began decades ago, when Walt Disney wanted a second child.
House of Mouse Walt adopted Sharon 6 weeks after her
birth in 1936. Though she wasn't their biological child, Sharon was treated like any other Disney,
with the same love and devotion from Walt and his wife, Lillian. Despite being the children
of Walt Disney, the entertainment emperor didn't want his children or his grandchildren
getting involved in the game-of-thrones-style corporate competition that was show business.
Nevertheless, Sharon had a brief stint as an actress and model before
settling down with her first husband, Robert Brown. Their marriage resulted in the adoption
of their first and only child together, Victoria Brown. When her marriage with Robert ended,
Sharon married Bill Lund, with whom she had twins, Brad and Michelle.
Brad and Michelle lived relatively normal lives, despite being the grandchildren of one of the most
successful men of all time. They differed from other kids when they went to a private school
for kids with learning disabilities. Both Michelle and Brad had a disability. Michelle was diagnosed
with dyslexia, while Brad's disability isn't as clear, though his father Bill once claimed his
son has fetal alcohol syndrome. Other than that, the twins lived out a typical 80s childhood:
they watched MTV, went to school, took family vacations. But it wasn't meant to last.
When their mother died in 1993, their normal life was over. Sharon had lost a fight with
breast cancer, giving her enough time to plan her three children's inheritance,
which, at the time, amounted to $400 million. But there was a catch.
Before she died, Sharon Disney tied the money up with a few stipulations:
her kids would receive a portion of their shares when they turned 35, another portion at 40,
and a final lump sum at 45, but only if they proved to be mentally capable and responsible
enough to manage millions of dollars. Sharon left the $400 million judgment call to three people,
handpicked by her. Sharon's husband Bill and older sister Diane Disney were two trustees.
Untrusting Trustees Bill Lund didn't just marry into the
Disney family. Back when Walt was looking for a massive plot of land to build Disney World, Bill,
an already experienced real estate developer, helped him find it. The rest is history.
Diane also has a prominent role in Disney history. Besides founding the Walt Disney Family Museum,
Diane also served as President of the Walt Disney Family Foundation. She helped fund
her father's legacy and portrayed it accurately under a historical context.
After her husband, Ron, was ousted as Disney's CEO in 1984, Diane put everything she had into
a Vineyard up in Napa Valley. She became a highly successful wine producer until her death in 2013.
These two Disney family members had a unique relationship with Brad and
Michelle. But no relationship was as complicated as Brad and Bill's.
Bill had described his son as having Down syndrome, despite never being diagnosed with the
genetic disorder by a medical professional. The Down syndrome rumor would turn out to play a major
role when Brad turned 35—when he was supposed to receive his first large sum of trust money.
Victoria and Michelle The first of Sharon's children to turn 35 was,
of course, Victoria. Out of her siblings, she was the most problematic. Like her other siblings,
Victoria grew up in a relatively wealthy household but never had direct access to
her parents' money. And for a good reason. Before Victoria began receiving her annual trust checks,
she was known to have a drug problem, dress sloppy, and live an unstable lifestyle.
In 2001, the trustees awarded Victoria $20 million. However,
the fund was already paying Victoria yearly before she got the full lump sum. So, by 2001,
Victoria had already shown the trustees how she planned on spending her mother's inheritance.
She rented $5,000 suites in Vegas, charter planes across the country, and even managed to tick off
then Disney CEO Michael Eisner. She accomplished this daring feat after a stay on a Disney cruise,
where Victoria wrecked her room, rock star style, costing the cruise ship some serious damages,
so much so that the cruise contacted Eisner himself.
Eisner told the trustees and demanded they pay for the damages, which they did. Still,
given all that, the trustees determined she was "suitable" to receive her inheritance.
Sadly, Victoria didn't get another check from the trustees. She never had a chance. In 2002,
she passed away, leaving the twins with her remaining shares in the trust. But after Victoria,
how would the trustees treat the twins? Michelle, in particular, was another potential
problem waiting to happen. Though she had shown responsibility in maintaining her allowance,
Michelle also struggled with drug addiction. Nevertheless, in 2005 the trustees granted
Michelle her first large sum when she turned 35. Brad, on the other hand, was denied.
Brad's Story Brad's story and why
the trustees keep denying him his payouts are complicated. However,
his life before the trust was normal, or as normal as being Walt Disney's grandson can be.
After receiving a certificate in culinary preparation, Brad worked some odd jobs
before eventually buying and running a UPS store. Before that, Brad was a busboy, mailroom worker,
and smoothie maker. In addition, Brad also continued the work of his mother's foundation,
which focuses on financing cancer research. Brad and Michelle attended events for the organization
and even made trips to research centers, where they discussed treatment progress with scientists.
Despite his past work experience and the fact that there was no proof he had any significant
mental disabilities, the trustees denied Brad his inheritance. On what grounds? The trustees
claimed the opposite. They said Brad lacked the mental capacity to manage a large sum of money.
When the trustees initially rejected him, Brad repeatedly tried to fight
the ruling by proving he was competent. However, his family would have none of it,
especially Bill and Michelle, who have often gone after Brad.
At one point, Brad had to sit on the stand, facing a crowd of people, eyes glued to him, and
answer accusations that he had participated in a romantic affair with his cousin, which he denied.
However, the most controversial and insulting moment came when Judge David Cowan
oversaw a hearing for Brad's case. During the hearing, the judge made some interesting claims.
He said that he did not feel comfortable giving $200 million to a person with Down syndrome.
Keep in mind that Brad had never been diagnosed with Down syndrome. And when his DNA was tested,
the results found no evidence he suffered from the disease, not a trace.
Nevertheless, Judge Cowan still ruled that Brad was mentally unfit to manage his inheritance.
Perks of Being a Trustee That day, the day that judge
Cowan ruled against Brad, the trustees won yet again. But there was more to it than that.
Bill, who was eventually ousted as a trustee, revealed the truth
behind what being a Disney trustee entailed, and it was a harsh truth.
As it turns out, the trustees were making a lot of money—just by overseeing Brad's
fund. Bill claims that while he was a trustee, his annual salary was at least $500k per year,
sometimes more. Bill says the trustees could earn over a million dollars in good years.
Just for overseeing the fund. See, as money sits in a trust fund,
it gets invested. Those investments grow, making more money for the fund. That money
typically goes towards fees associated with running a fund and paying trustees.
As long as the trust had one of the twins to oversee, the checks would
come. Even after Michelle had an aneurysm and showed some lingering side effects,
the trustees still granted her the large sum payment alongside the knowledge that
Michelle has suffered drug addiction in the past. They did so without a second thought.
Drained Though he started with $200 million,
the trustees have undoubtedly taken a big chunk of that sum over the past 15 years, leaving Brad with
whatever is left, including the ranch. In the letter he gave to his lawyer, Brad also demands
the opposing attorneys not release his personal medical documents in court. Along with the ranch,
the records are the latest in the long line of legal troubles Brad has to deal with.
In the future, Brad hopes to win his case, his inheritance, and further advocate for probate
court reform, the jurisdiction Brad's been stuck in for the past 15 years.
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And let us know in the comment section if you think that Brad deserves any of the money!