When James Van Der Beek passed away on February 11, family friends set up a GoFundMe to help his wife and children. Many celebrities, including Steven Spielberg and Zoe Saldana, contributed to it. James was vocal during the last months of his life about just how much his cancer treatments had drained his finances. His medical insurance would have most likely been under SAG-AFTRA’s, but it’s not known if he worked enough hours in 2025 to qualify for it. As of February 16, the GoFundMe is well over $2.6 million dollars.
James and his wife Kimberly Van Der Beek had been renting a 36-acre property just outside of Austin, TX since 2020. They’ve been raising their six children there and the GFM mentioned that they wanted their children to stay in their current home. Within a day of the GFM launch, however, TMZ broke the news that James had actually bought the property through an LLC in an off-market sale on January 9, a month before his death. People then got a statement from his rep that he was able to do so by setting up a trust with the help of friends.
Prior to his death, James Van Der Beek secured a down payment for the Texas ranch that he and his family had previously been renting.
His representative tells PEOPLE that before the actor died at age 48 on Feb. 11 following a journey with stage 3 colorectal cancer, the Dawson’s Creek alum secured a down payment on the Austin ranch where he had been residing with his wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children.
“James secured down payment for the Texas ranch for the family with the help of friends through a trust so they could shift from rent to mortgage,” the rep tells PEOPLE.
In 2020, James and Kimberly permanently left Beverly Hills, Calif., and relocated to Austin with their kids: daughters Olivia, 15, Annabel, 12, Emilia, 9, and Gwendolyn, 7, and sons Joshua, 13, and Jeremiah, 4, the latter of whom was not yet born.
Speaking to PEOPLE in November 2022, the late actor said that living in Texas has been a “centering” experience for him and his family. And “for the kids,” he said, “it’s been grounding, and a different kind of education that we never could have offered them in a classroom.”
Since moving, he explained at the time, the family was able to slow down and connect more with both nature and each other. His kids “jump around,” he said. “They sing, ‘rain, rain come today,’ and they run out in it, because we need it.”
“It’s just connected us, not just to nature, but to the natural life cycles all around us,” added the father of six.
In the wake of James’ death on Feb. 11, friends of the Van Der Beek family organized a GoFundMe page to collect donations after James’ medical care left the family “out of funds.”
The fundraiser, which states it will “help cover essential living expenses, pay bills, and support the children’s education,” received over $2.2 million in the first 48 hours.
I’ve read that there may be provisions under Texas law that prevents a family from losing their home due to medical debt, especially if it’s considered a homestead. I’m not a Texas trust and estate attorney, though, so I’m not sure which boxes (if any) the VDB family checks off. It does seem that before he passed, James was trying to set his family up as best he could, and buying the ranch could make it harder for them to lose it than if they were still renting it. It was very generous of his friends to step up and help cover the down payment. It was also incredibly generous of everyone who has donated to the GoFundMe over the last several days.
That said, at this point, the GFM goal has been raised a few times. The family is so fortunate to have raised so much money. Sadly, a family going into medical debt and becoming at risk of losing their home is universally understood to be a uniquely American experience. Their GoFundMe has raised more than so many other families with so much less will ever see. I think it’s time to close the VDB one and redirect future donors to other charities that help support cancer patients and their families.
Photos credit: Avalon.red and Getty Images
Thank you for following up on this story. However I feel like there is a lot more to this and it’s confusing. Do they still own the house in LA that they rent out for 12K a month? Is it a working ranch in TX that can generate the funds needed to keep it or they need donations to keep acerage for fun? I’ve read that she homeschools the kids, so by donations for education they mean college? I don’t think I’m entitled to that information because he was a celebrity, but if I donated I’d like to know what for. It’s not fair to insinuate that they are destitute when in fact they are not and the donations are taken for a mortgage they don’t need.
there’s been a lot of push back about the donations on SM, He was bound to get huge donation pot due to the popularity of Dawsons Creek. i suppose people are just wary since they keep upping the ante
This is what’s bothered me—the organizer kept upping the goal of the fund. It’s beginning to smack of greed. It is time to close the fund.
There’s no way it’s an income generating ranch. For one thing the area is in a decade long drought, so even running a few cattle wouldn’t be possible without paying for feed, etc. It’s a ranchita that can probably support chickens and maybe some very small livestock, but I wouldn’t want to be doing that and homeschooling six kids, although I’m sure their “schooling” is suspect.
I’m cynical about this, I live in a neighborhood where half the kids go to the great little elementary school down the street, and half are in large homeschooling families that go to cult vibe churches.
Those kids play outside all day, don’t interact with anyone outside the bubble, and are very entitled. Some kids across the street had play bows and arrows, and they kept shooting kids and adults they didn’t know in the face. No apologies, no acknowledgement, just shoot someone on a walk in the face, grab the arrow and run off laughing. The parents aren’t visible at any point. Some kids that went to our school then went to being homeschooled, I heard about the mom not believing teachers when they brought up behavior issues with her kids. She’d say, I know my kids heart and they’d never do that.
Yikes!
I can’t stand the “my angel baby sweetheart would never do/say that” parents. Kids can be little assholes, even the best kids. My son had attention issues and little nervous tics. In 8th grade I got a call at work saying he’d been tapping his pen even when the teacher asked him to stop. She was initially defensive like she expected me to give her crap. I said “ok, that’s unacceptable and his dad and I will talk to him”. She was shocked. We talked to him, he’d had therapy and had tools to help with behavior. He went the next day and apologized to her and he actually became her favorite student. You should be in your kids corner but in a responsible way.
It does sound a little, I dunno, sleazy. Help raise funds for his medical bills! Then, oh, wait, he just bought a ranch. Now you’re saying they still own a place in LA?? Super suss.
TMZ said the Texas home was $4.7 million, and that’s what seems crazy to me. That’d buy so much house in Texas. It seems like a huge debt to take on for a family, when surely even something $2M would cover their needs and be paid off by now.
He was also a Trumper and anti-vaxxer. It is definitely more appropriate too redirect funds too families who didn’t vote for ppl to be priced out of health insurance and who are protecting their children and communities by getting vaxed.
this right here. Also, his cancer was diagnosed at Stage III, meaning that he could have been successfully treated and given him YEARS. Instead he decided to “treat” it with “alternative remedies” ixe quackery, thereby condemning himself to death and his kids to grow up fatherless.
I was biting my tongue, but yup. Everything he says sounds MAGA, right down to moving to Texas, of all places. And the many kids (replacement theory).
I’ve been thinking about this. I’m not at all sure he was a Trumper, but he and his wife were huge RFK Jr. fans and wanted him to be the presidential nominee instead of Biden in 2020. They’re also definitely Anti-vaxxers. This whole time he’s been sick, I’ve been wondering if he tried to treat it using Western medicine and really hoping he did. In his announcement, he said something like, “If you’re heard of it, I’ve touched on it.” That wording, “touching on” was concerning. Is it true, as Maisie says above, that at Stage 3, traditional treatments can give you years?
I think I’ve mentioned here before, but a dad in my community died in 2021, lung cancer, leaving behind a wife and three kids. I know people who knew them well.
The dad was diagnosed in 2018 with stage 2 lung cancer (90% survival rate), and treated it with ivermectin (pre covid), until it was so far advanced there was nothing they could do. I found this out a year or so ago.
People would literally rather be right than live. Sad for his family, sad for his kids. Going to donate to the fundraiser for a neighbor undergoing breast cancer treatment.
I have a lot of questions. But I still wish them all the best. I agree it might be a good time to close the GFM and ask people to donate to other families.
I have no issue with wealthy friends and business contacts donating at this difficult time, but soliciting donations from regular fans? I’m sorry, it doesn’t sit right with me.
This is a very sad situation but this is also a family that appears to have been living beyond its means. And being a stay at home, homeschooling mom on a big ranch may not be something she can continue. Close the GoFundMe, get a good financial counsellor, and move towards a lifestyle you can sustain. Otherwise I just have a sinking feeling this won’t be the last time a request for money goes out.
My guess is they got negative attention from this and an inquiry into their finances, so this may stop. However, it highlights how one can lose perspective in a materialistic society like America. I agree this is a sad situation, but she may need to regroup with a financial planner and shift to a new way of life. I hope it shines a light on healthcare costs in this country, how chronic illness can bankrupt you, and individuals who don’t have these funds or connections. I also feel bad that James may have assets (we aren’t clear), but not much in liquid assets. His financial picture could be more complicated than I understand. It is also crazy that he was young and got little from Dawson’s. It shows the plight of working actors who get stereotyped and keep getting paid less. I remember when they made a big deal about Geoffrey Owens working at Trader Joe’s, but you have to respect his work ethic. I’ve also seen him in more things since. It actually gave him positive publicity, which he parlayed into more roles. Anyway, for James, it’s still a tragic situation. I hope his wife, who seemed to have a business career before meeting him, has support and figures out the common sense next moves.
I’m confused because the title of the post says he bought the property, when in fact he just arranged a downpayment for a mortgage? So he set the family up with a pile of debt and no solution to finance it. If there actually is a solution in place to finance the mortgage, then they really shouldn’t take money from fans by implying that they are ruined by the treament costs.
I can’t be totally objective about this because I have family who lost everything in a fire last month and their GFM is definitely not pulling in that amount of money. But, it is nice that his friends set up that trust for his family. Six kids are expensive, no matter what the circumstances are.
I agree- thanks for following up on this. Although I feel badly about JVDB’s death, something about the GFM has left me really irritated for some reason. The maths weren’t mathing, as others here have pointed out. As I see it, based on the info I’ve seen, the GFM is a money-grab to ensure the family can continue to live in what by all means is a lux lifestyle, and one a family who is at the very least anti-vaxx (and very tradwifey), but also potentially pro-Tr**p (which to me reads ok with the devastation of the healthcare systems). We don’t know James’ insurance situation, but it has been reported that he was using alternative medicine, either in combination with chemo or alone. It’s not clear, but in either case, insurance wouldn’t cover these treatments.
Please correct any of my points below about what feel like a lot of donations going in to the family to help them maintain their lifestyle:
-owns BH property and drawing at least 12k/ month in rent from it/ renting rural-ish Texas property
-Fall 2025: fundraiser on TV for the family by his Dawson’s Creek friends
-Fall 2025: JVDB begins selling off memorabilia to pay for treatment
-December/ January: secures down payment on Texas home through trust set up with the help of friends
-February 2026: GFM set up immediately after death. Initial goal is 500k, amount raised regularly as more money comes in. The donations have begun to peter off as news about the financial help to buy property emerges. Amount still over 2.5 million dollars.
To me, it feels really unsavory to continue to be taking money from strangers, esp with the economy as bad as it is and there are people who could use that money to survive. I understand that the wife has children to take care of and needs to grieve, but why isn’t she working to ameliorate the financial burden? The kids can go to public school…
Assuming he was paying into social security, they could also receive survivor benefits for the minor children. Not enough to cover the mortgage on a multi million dollar property, but it would amount to several thousand dollars/month.
That’s right, they can draw on those for all six kids. The eldest is only 15. This point also doesn’t help the feeling that the GFM is a— in my opinion— shameless money grab for parents who seemingly couldn’t buckle down and live within their means. While I think those kids should have opportunities and happiness, the pics of them on luxury vacations (the Pyramids, for one) in the last couple of years are also evidence that they were/ are living a lifestyle most people can’t. KVDB could work, too, though I’m not sure what qualifications she has (and she’s long commercially capitalized on being his (trad)wife).
I was thinking about the BH property. Even if it free of liens/mortgage, the property taxes & insurance must be a heavy cost. And on that note, taxes in Travis County where the ranchita is located can run $3-5k / mo, (factoring for acreage). CA transplants to TX also get sticker shock on auto/home insurance rates
Adding: I worked in the mortgage business for decades. How was the trust/LLC structured to support their debt to income ratio? I remember strings being pulled to make deals like this happen w/ a non-conforming investor.
Property taxes in LA county (where I live) are comparatively low. And I assume they own the BH property outright as he sold his Studio City place a few years ago. Plus, they’re pulling in rent from the BH property, which I suspect would factor in both property taxes and insurance. They had been renting the property in TX, so no insurance, other than renter’s, or property taxes to worry about there until last month.
Thanks for that bit of local context. Perhaps w/ the generous down payment, the family’s monthly PITI will be lower than the previous rent charged.
I try to stay out of people’s pockets, but this one story taps into my personal experiences. It merges my years in portfolio lending & due diligence alongside losing 3 siblings to different forms of cancer [breast / skin / liver] +a parent to medical malpractice. The financial tolls left their mark.
This family is anti-vaxx, MAHA and MAGA…
At best, they are rich-people-broke with obviously a vast and wealthy support system.
Sorry, but starting a GFM if you have multiple million dollar homes is just grotesque.
I agree, it is grotesque. And the wife should return the money raised but she won’t because this is a grift, pure and simple.
It’s gross. Millions? If you have six kids, and a BH home, you plan to be set up (with life insurance) should something go wrong. No way they need this type of money – they can live normal lives like every other citizen. This reeks of entitlement to an outrageous degree. I bet the truth is worse than we know.
No, they don’t need millions just because they chose to have six kids. They can live off the salaries normal people do, as may others have six kids. This is just super gross.
While I agree some of their actions are very sus, this isn’t: GFM automatically ups the goals. And whether or not I agree with having a GFM for a famous person’s family, they knew he was dying. They had it set up and ready to go right after he died, because that’s when people would be ready and willing to donate, not weeks or months later.
Putting aside the GFM for a second, here’s the scenario:
You’re an actor. You’re an actor who is making tiny residuals from your only hit show (according to recent press). So, you’re a **working** actor, meaning you aren’t getting $12 mil per movie.
At that point, you decide to have six children. SIX. You also decide at some point to put them in private schools. Even **before** your life hits a wall (fatal illness), how are you supporting all those kids? And your wife won’t work? I mean, what was the plan here? To let god (i.e., your non-rich TV fans) provide?
Precisely. So much of their situation is a choice. She can work. Many people work with six kids. Sell the BH house. Stop grifting. I think they’re super gross
I’ve been wondering the same. Having six kids for one unsteady income source (his fading celebrity)? What was the plan?? Maybe he had a steady income outside of acting we don’t know about and now that’s gone, but then again why set up mortgage for a huge property right before he passed?
I contributed a small amount because it’s not going to be easy raising 6 kids. As long as he wasn’t a criminal, I didn’t need to know what political party he aligned himself with or if they rented or owned the ranch, or if I agreed with how they raise their family. I’m not going to sit here & be all judgmental. I just wanted to help out, human to human.
Get off your high horse, Sharon. No one here is “being all judgmental” by stating the facts at hand and speculating on motives or the fact that this family likely supports exactly those policies that may ruin them and countless others who have neither their means nor access to wealthy friends. It’s exactly these political views that are inhumane and antithetical to the most basic tenets of humanity, so spare the “human to human” rhetoric.
People from all walks of life have six kids and make it work. Plenty of people have financial plans in place to ensure their loved ones’ grief is minimized in the event of death. Plenty of people make much more dire circumstances work and none of them are relying on repeated public contributions during an economic crisis.
JVDB had means at his disposal that were used to afford a lux lifestyle and pay for expensive alternative health treatments. He also had access to ask wealthy friends for funds and received them, yet his family felt zero shame in asking for even more.
A criminal isn’t a human? Their children wouldn’t need help? Or just not worthy of it? Well I can’t say I’m not shocked that everyone isn’t thrilled about the GFM. I witnessed another conversation just earlier and the Beverly Hills house came up. I hope that he had a good financial advisor and she has a plan for the future that she will stick to and change up if necessary. She doesn’t look that young so hopefully she has some real world experience before becoming a tradwife. She must have been mid to late twenties when she married him. I hope those kids are following a good homeschooling course online. Good for them that friends helped with a down payment and fans have generously donated. I hope others that can will donate to less well off families of different backgrounds that are trying to keep one roof over their heads, clothes on their back, and fed while working or looking for a job. They’ll probably end it soon they’re clearly aware of the backlash.
Did you actually read the comment? There in no way was either explicit or implicit mention of this GFM being criminal or that his or a criminal’s children not needing help. (His children don’t need the same type of financial help as others, as everyone in this post has demonstrated with receipts.)
The point is that there is a lot of noblesse with this family and none of the oblige. In fact, they have done everything in their power to maintain the noblesse while entirely abrogating the oblige, to the detriment of others.
If his insurance wasn’t covering his cancer treatments, he may have been doing “alternative” treatments.
Unfortunately, not the case. My dad had Medicare supplemented by private health insurance because he retired from a giant company with good benefits. Insurance covered some things and not others. For example, after his first chemo, he was very sick and needed to wait 12 weeks before he could get another does. So his doctor prescribed a course of treatment aimed at keeping his disease in check until he could get his next chemo dose. That protocol was not covered even though it is commonly prescribed with fast moving cancers. We spent nearly $30k in the course of 3 months.
And my mother’s Parkinson’s medication, which has been around for decades and is very commonly prescribed for Parkinson’s, was still classified as “experimental” when she first started taking it, resulting in enormous medication bills.
And it is only getting worse. Part of pretending that kids don’t need vaccines is that the gov’t will likely stop paying for those vaccines under Medicaid. And when the gov’t does not pay, private insurers will use it as a justification for not paying.
Insurance is a for-profit business.
Yup. My mom had Medicare only and after her death from breast cancer I remember having to pay off the nearly $7k in outstanding medical bills, and that was twenty years ago. Insurance doesn’t pay for everything. And yes, of course, they don’t pay for ‘alternative’ medicine if that’s the kind of thing VDB was doing.
What’s the deal with the BH house?! Did they have equity? If so, why wasn’t the plan to sell it and pay for the Texas property? Oh right, why do that when you can grift from strangers.
Texas has very strong homestead exemptions & protection laws. Even if the family was broke, it was a smart thing to buy the ranch prior to his death and declare it the family homestead. It makes the property, up to a certain value, untouchable by debt collectors, except for the mortgage debt itself.
His family could have bought the ranch by financing it and putting up a down payment but still owing millions in mortgage payments over the next 30 years.
I have been a chaplain in hospital and hospice care for a long time. Cancer for patients is a big part of my career. If you are not destitute, you do an application for Disability and get Medicare, but If you can prove you are destitute, most people go on Medicaid. if your CA is still treatable ( His was stage 3 so it was) you will get treatment. It will be at the city hospital like Cooper Green, which is affiliated w/ the University of Alabama teaching hospital and highly rated. Cooper Green has an oncology department. There maybe a wait, but timely because the cancer committee is following the protocols of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. (BTW, the network includes the O’Neil Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB where OUR hospital is lucky to be affiliated with.). So they have a timeline to treat you.
Unless…You follow the opinion of some Nutjob with a worm for a brain. He told you to not treat your CA with what has been successfully studied w/ double-blind research, so you don’t. Until it gets too far, and you REMEMBER that you have 6! children. So now you are stuck and dead.