Shake Down the Thunder

Aubrey McLendon was an Oklahoma City businessman who made his fortune in the energy business. He died in a March auto accident the day after he was indicted for allegedly rigging the price of oil and gas leases. He also owned 20% of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Attorneys for one of the lenders to his business have already filed motions in the probate court asking for input into the sale price of his interest in the NBA team. They fear the estate will sell it to his widow for less than the maximum price even though it is not currently for sale. They stated that the primary purpose of the probate court is to protect the interest of creditors.

Several quick points:

1. Under Ohio law, creditors have six months from the date of death to file a claim to protect their interest.

2, Once the claim is filed, they sit back and wait for the estate to be settled. Distributions may not be made until the creditor's claim has been paid.

3. I love it when high priced corporate lawyers bring their white shoes, prestigious degrees, high billable rates, and commensurate bluster to the serene probate area where the purpose, contrary to their belief about protecting creditors, is to ensure the orderly transfer of assets pursuant to a decedent's wishes in due time. Actually, I do not love it - I find it annoying.

Pistons, Lightning, Shock, and Fury

William Davidson was the owner of the Detroit Pistons, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Detroit Shock (WNBA). When he died in 2009, he was listed as the 62nd richest man in the U.S. His estate recently settled litigation with the IRS over the amount of estate taxes owed. The IRS claimed that the estate owed an additional $2.8 billion (yes, with a B) in estate taxes. The dispute involved the value of closely held stock transferred to various trusts. The estate settled for $388 million.

Points, if I must:

1. I would call this a victory for the estate given that the IRS was seeking 7X more than the settlement amount.

2. Of course, it is never a victory for the family when they had already presumably paid more than $1 billion in estate taxes and were fighting over the incremental taxes.

3. All of this begs the question about how much estate tax is enough from one individual. If Democratic candidate nee Socialist Bernie Sanders were president, Davidson's tax bill would have been $1 billion more.

4. Last, if one owns a professional sports team, or three, good estate planning advice is essential.

Tarnished Sterling

The trial deciding whether Shelly Sterling can sell the Los Angeles Clippers as trustee of her husband's trust will start on Monday, July 7.  Her husband, Donald Sterling, was banned from the NBA for life and fined $2.5 million after his "girlfriend" recorded him making racist statements.  After he was declared mentally incapacitated by 2 physicians, he was removed as trustee of his trust which enabled his wife to sell the team to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.  The purchase price is the second highest for a sports franchise and is 2x the second highest American purchase.   Sterling only  paid $13.5 million in 1981.  The trial will focus on the trust terms.

Several points:

1.  The trusts I draft for my clients have similar provisions for removing a mentally incapacitated trustee.

2.  That Sterling is not accepting of the incredible $2 billion offer for a franchise known as the most inept in all of sports during his ownership tenure is evidence that he might be mentally incapacitated.

3.  His argument will be that he is not incompetent but simply racist and making a bad business decision.  He might wish to re-think that.

Shooting an Airball

Lorenzen Wright played in the NBA for 13 years and earned $55 million.  Shortly after his retirement, he was the victim of an unsolved murder in a suspected drug deal.  He was survived by his ex-wife, Sherra Wright,  and their 6 children.  After his death, his ex-wife received $1 million in insurance proceeds in trust for the children.  Within 10 months of receiving the proceeds, she was accused of having spent nearly all of them on housing, furniture, cars, and travel.  She is now subject to probate court action to remove her as trustee.

Several points:

1.  It is never a good idea to have a former spouse serve as trustee for the children.  A financially savvy third party is a much better choice.  Newly divorced individuals should quickly revise their wills and trusts to remove the former spouse and to keep him/her away from assets for the children.

2.  In some defense of Sherra Wright, purchasing real estate with trust assets is not spending them, it is re-allocating the type of investment.

3.  I suspect that Mr. Wright is not the only former NBA player to have significant career earnings and to die with less than 2% of them remaining.  Annual child support and alimony payments of $330,000 tend to rapidly diminish one's net worth.