Sadly, as I predicted last May, the story of Huguette Clark’s estate and charitable bequests is headed to an all out battle by her “next of kin” (extremely distant relatives by normal standards but next in line according to the law) to knock out her last will. The investment in massive legal maneuvering by the...
Apparently behind the Penn State scandal there is some speculation about an “estate planning” move made by the 84-year-old Joe Paterno in July this year. The move: a $1 sale of his $600,000 home to his wife in July. Here are two articles on the topic: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/joe-paternos-house-and-the-estate-tax-question-2/?scp=9&sq=lawyer&st=nyt http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/joe_paternos_wife_bought_his_home_for_1_was_it_estate_planning_or_asset_shi/ What struck me about these posts are...
I know this is a blog about charitable giving techniques – and this post has nothing to do with charitable giving. And, I promise my readers not to send garbage to their in-boxes. But, this story I found so interesting and really starts to address one of the “what ifs” raised by the Madoff fiasco. ...
Very interesting tax issue that was brought to my attention by New York T & E attorney Lawrence Garbuz. The following article incredibly says that there is a chance that Congress might be forced to reduce the federal gift tax exemption from $5 million to $1 million as of Nov. 23! http://trustsandestates.com/wealth_watch/super-committee-proposals-estate-gift-tax-1110/ If such a thing happened,...
When it comes down to precautions in planning giving (i.e. cover yourself letters, seeking your own counsel, etc…), there is one good rule of thumb: The bigger the gift, the bigger the stakes, the more ethical and legal precautions you take!! What spawned this post? Check out this charitable bequest nightmare story: http://news.yahoo.com/bequest-feed-panama-children-spawns-legal-fight-153820831.html The point...