(MONEY Magazine) – FOR A MAN WHO PRIDED HIMSELF ON NEVER SELLING OUT TO commercial pressure, Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia--who died of a heart attack at age 53 in August--apparently cared a lot about what happened to his assets once he was gone. In May of last year, just three months after he married his third wife Deborah Koons, 45, Garcia signed a new 18-page will. The document holds valuable dos and don'ts for millions of divorced and remarried Americans wrestling with how to share their wealth among a blended family.

Howard Zaritsky, an estate planner in Fairfax, Va., says Garcia's fairly unsophisticated will nonetheless accomplished what the musical icon wanted, which was to take care of his four daughters, ages seven to 31. "Most people make taxes a higher priority," notes Zaritsky. "But Garcia did what he wanted, and it was a perfectly reasonable approach." Here are the highlights:

He took care of some key obligations outside the will. Smart move. At the same time that he drafted the will, Garcia drew up separate papers providing child support for his seven-year-old and an agreement with her mother, Manasha Matheson, regarding a house she would own jointly with the daughter.

He failed to reduce Uncle Sam's big bite. Garcia's attorney says the musician's estate could be worth "in the ball park" of $10 million. Among his ventures, Garcia had a share in ticket sales from the Grateful Dead tour, which last year grossed an estimated $52 million, and a part of the more than $10 million his line of ties has pulled down annually since its 1993 launch. He also scooped up royalties from Ben & Jerry's (no relation) Cherry Garcia ice cream, as well as income from his own paintings, which were selling for as much as $20,000 before his death.

Still, Garcia did little to shelter his estate from taxes. He could have used the "unlimited marital deduction" to pass along his entire estate--tax-free--to his widow. But that would have cut out his kids. He also chose not to create a QTIP (qualified terminable interest property trust). The trust would have excluded the first $600,000 of his estate from taxes, and his widow would have gotten the trust's income. When she died, the beneficiaries named by Jerry would have inherited the principal. But Jerry did not want his kids to wait.

He made sure that all beneficiaries were treated equal. Under California community property law, Deborah Koons Garcia, whom he married on Valentine's Day in 1994, automatically receives half of the assets acquired during their marriage. In addition, Garcia gave his widow one-third of his half of the community property from the marriage, plus one-third of the rest of his estate. The remaining assets are divided among his kids, his brother, and the daughter of his friend and '60s LSD-guru Ken Kesey.

The widow's share of the estate is technically tax-free under the unlimited marital deduction. But Garcia decided against burdening the other beneficiaries with all of the estate taxes. So instead he will have the estate pay the taxes before anyone receives a penny--including his widow.

He died without a living trust. He never got around to completing it. Now the will--to borrow from Dead lyrics--"must make the long strange trip" through probate.

--Carla Fried and Karen Hube