Many questions have been raised in the aftermath of Whitney Houston's untimely death last weekend. Among them is what might happen to the late music icon's estate?

It does not seem to have been reported whether she had a will. Given recent lengthy litigation over her father's estate, which ended just three weeks before her own death, one would think she would have been well-versed in the matters of estate planning. Nonetheless, we know that estate planning is something that many have trouble getting around to completing.

Many news reports have suggested that Houston's only child, 18-year-old Bobbi Kristina Brown, is the sole heir to her estate. If this is written into a carefully drafted will, things may go quite smoothly. If she is inheriting her estate by default, because there was no will, there may be problems.

Because Houston's daughter is so young, it is unlikely that she will be prepared to inherit her mother's estate all at once. Often, well-drafted wills include provisions for trusts which withhold some of the estate from young beneficiaries for some time, in order to prevent a very young adult from inheriting a very large estate when they are not prepared for it.

There have already been numerous media reports of people trying to get close to Bobbi Kristina Brown in efforts to make a play for some of the estate.

A well-crafted will could have prevented and mitigated many of these issues.

Many news reports have suggested that Whitney Houston may have been broke at the time of her death. Even if this is true, her estate will receive the proceeds of her father's life insurance policy that she was recently awarded, as well as the sales of projects that are yet to be released and her older works that have been selling well since her death.

However, the estate may not earn a lot off of the sale of old recordings because it appears she did not own the rights for much of her early work.

Nonetheless, if she died with any debt, the estate will first be used to pay creditors and then will be prepared for distribution to beneficiaries.

Source: Associated Press, "Whitney Houston estate to gain; questions remain," Ryan Nakashima, Feb. 14, 2012