Ella Mason Was the Reasonable One

When she died in 2003, a Maine woman left almost of all of her $200,000 estate for the care of the unwanted and abandoned cats in her hometown.  Her two page will appointed trustees to administer the funds but did not specify who should actually receive the funds.  Now, two women who run makes shift cat shelters have sued the trustees and the attorney who drafted the will.    The two women spend nearly all of their disposable income to provide for the cats.  One of the women has not visited family for 2 years because she is afraid to burden the other woman with all of the cat care in her absence.

Several points:

1.  Obviously, the trust is lacking in specifics about how the funds should be spent and should have included direct beneficiaries.

2.  Any two page will is lacking in many specifics without even incorporating a trust into it.

3.  The attorney should be dismissed from the lawsuit.  His legal duty was only to his client - he did not owe any legal duty to the people suing the trust.

4.  Need I point out that stories involving multiple cats never include a male?

To Have and Have Not (a Trust)

The executors of Lauren Bacall's estate filed her will in probate court on Friday.  Her will, which she executed last fall, left her $27 million estate in equal shares to her 3 children save for a few small five figure bequests to household staff and to her son to care for her dog.    She also left $250K to each of her grandsons to be used for college with them receiving the remainder at the age of 30.

Several points:

1.  A funded trust would have provided her privacy so the public would not know about her intentions.

2.  A trust would also be a more efficient means of managing the funds for her grandsons.

3.  With college tuition increases not grounded in economic reality, I hope the $250K is enough to fully cover college expenses for her grandsons.