The main plot of George Clooney’s Oscar-nominated movie, “The Descendants,” deals with a trial lawyer coping with the fact that his comatose wife was having an affair and planned to divorce him. But the movie’s title refers to the fact that Clooney’s character is also the descendent of a wealthy white banker and a Hawaiian princess. They left valuable real estate on Kauai in a trust, and with that trust about to end, Clooney’s character must decide whether to sell the land to a developer, a move that would enrich him and his greedy cousins.
While the estate planning issues might be secondary to the main plot, the film’s director and the author of the book the film is based on both did their homework.