Challenges Ahead in Settling OJ Simpson’s Estate Debt to Ron Goldman’s Family

As you probably heard, OJ Simpson died last week at age 76. He left behind more than just a legacy of NFL accolades, alleged double murders and years of bizarre behavior following his trial of the century acquittal. According to the family of one of his alleged victims, OJ left behind a massive debt.

In 1997, Simpson was convicted in civil court for the death of Ron Goldman. A jury subsequently ordered him to pay the Goldman family $33.5 million in damages. The family of Nicole Brown Simpson did NOT sue him in civil court because they were worried it would have meant Simpson’s minor children would be forced to testify.

In the years after 1997 and up to his death last week, Simpson successfully avoided payment of the vast majority of those damages. He basically didn’t take jobs and instead lived comfortably off an untouchable NFL pension. In a 2022 made legal filings on the matter, Fred Goldman claimed that in total, Simpson had only paid about $133,000 of the tens of millions he owed:

Now, the Goldman family is preparing for a possible legal battle to get as much as they can from his estate. According to Fred Goldman, the late Ron Goldman’s father, thanks to interest and penalties at the time of his death, Simpson’s debt had grown to $114 million.

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A lawyer representing the Goldmans claims the families had attempted legal maneuvers like securing Simpson’s NFL pension or his money in trust, but apart from getting the rights to his controversial “hypothetical” memoir “If I Did It,” most of these attempts failed. The lawyer also says the battle isn’t over with Simpson’s death and that he is now working to determine exactly how much money Simpson may have left behind:

“He died without penance… He did not want to give a dime, a nickel to Fred, never, anything, never…He [still] owes on the current status of the judgment.“

“We need to get a lawyer or a number of lawyers who deal with this, very smart people to determine who it is or who it would be, and [start] taking depositions from people and/or finding out who they are and what information we need…It’s a big deal.“

By our estimation, OJ Simpson’s net worth at the time of his death was $3 million. The vast majority of that net worth was OJ’s NFL pension. A key question going forward is whether or not that pension can be inherited by Simpson’s estate and remain protected or if that money could be seized to repay the Goldman judgment.