Gilded Age Fortune Will Dispute

I mentioned this last year.  Huguette Clark was the reclusive Gilded Age heiress who lived the last 20 years of her life in a hospital under a fake name even though she owned various houses and apartments worth $150 million.  She also owned personal property (i.e. jewelry, art, furnishings) worth $75 million.  The story is noteworthy because at the age of 98, she finally executed a will which left most of her fortune to her distant relatives who she referred to as her heirs.  Once on a will signing roll, she executed another will six weeks later which left most of her fortune to charity. The distant relatives, who did not know where she lived, are contesting the second will.       

Several points:

1.  The most recent will is presumed to be the valid will.

2.  The will can be challenged on the grounds of undue influence or her lack of mental capacity.  The mental capacity argument is probably a losing argument   If she were incompetent when she signed the second will, one would think that she was incompetent six weeks prior, too.  

3.  A funded trust would have provided her privacy and kept Cincinnati estate planning attorneys/bloggers and the general public from knowing that she was worth $300 million.

4.  When a distant relative is a Gilded Age heiress, a Christmas card and occasional phone call provide a great return on investment.         

Who Controls End of Life Decisions?

Sad case that I intended to link last week.  A young woman was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and eventually received a breathing tube. When she requested that the tube be removed so she could die, her parents sought guardianship of her.  A court found her competent to make her own decision and denied her parents' request. In an odd turn of events, she changed her mind and kept the tube in place to preserve peace with her parents.

A few points:

1.  The case was correctly decided.  The parents had no right to interfere in the decisions of their adult child.

2.  If she had not been found competent, she would have been best served by having a health care power of attorney which designated someone who shared her beliefs to make her decisions. 

3.  We all should have conversations with our family members so they know our wishes and how we wish they would respond to specific medical situations.  As tempting as it might be to get all potentially controversial topics on the table at once, save the conversation about differing views on religion, political candidates, and gay marriage for a different time

Choice of Trustee

Who should serve as trustee of a trust?  Choices are usually family members or a corporate trustee from a bank or investment company. 

I usually advise clients to look at their family members first, then use a corporate trustee if there is no one suitable.  However, I always try to dissuade my clients from naming one child as trustee of another child's trust as a means of preserving family relationships post-death.  Grandparents can serve as trustee for the short term.  However, if the parents or grandparents are Michael and Dina Lohan, I always advise that the client use a corporate trustee.      

Closing On-Line Accounts

Returning to post-death digital assets.  The web site Deceased Account assists families with closing on-line accounts of deceased family members.   The site summarizes the procedures of most major (and many minor or unheard of) on-line services.

If a surviving spouse discovers that the deceased spouse belonged to eHarmony, the account can be closed by a family member by simply stopping payment. Thankfully.  And indignantly.      

The Very Rare Estate

I am back after a few weeks of slow estate planning news and 14+ days in Europe.

The story about the family who found a collection of pristine, old baseball cards valued at $3 million in their aunt's attic is interesting for reasons other than the discovery of unknown  valuable assets.  First, it is very rare that an individual's personal items are worth more than a few cents on the dollar.  Even more rare is the family that is drawn closer together when dividing personal items.

My experience is that distributing personal property, no matter how small the value, can lead to acrimony and hostile feelings between heirs.  To prevent acrimony, individuals should specify which heir is to receive specific items in a memorandum.  Any hostile feelings can then be directed to the deceased and relations among siblings can be preserved. Hopefully.