Sunday, August 25, 2013

Going for a Touchdown When a Field Goal Would Have Sufficed



Jim Carlen was one of the winningest football coaches at the University of South Carolina.  His children from his first marriage, which ended in 1980, are suing his 2nd wife of 29 years alleging that she influenced him to leave all of his estate to her. 

His 2007 will and all prior wills had included the children from his first marriage.  The 2010 will, executed one year after he was diagnosed with dementia, left everything to his widow.  In 2011, he executed a power of attorney in favor his wife which she purportedly used to transfer assets to herself prior to his death 

Several points:

1.  A will executed by an individual diagnosed with dementia that substantially changes his estate plan will always be challenged by the beneficiaries of the prior will.

2.  The coach could have provided for both his widow and children by leaving assets to her in a trust and having them distributed to the children upon her death.

3.  Proving that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered, the widow would have been better off ensuring that the children received something rather than seeing them disinherited entirely.

4.  45 wins constitutes the third most wins at South Carolina?  That might explain the one conference championship it its history.