Your lawblogger gets calls on a regular basis from folks wondering what is happening with a parent’s estate. Most are concerned that a relative whom they do not trust is doing something improper behind their back. The safeguards against this in New York are just about foolproof.

Continue Reading What’s Happening With Mom’s Estate???

One of my first bosses used to say the price of the sports car your child purchases is directly proportional to the size of his inheritance when he turns eighteen. This tried and true axiom has occurred to more and more parents and they are dealing with the situation in greater numbers. An article by Chris Taylor in the Financial Post reported here speaks to how more folks are utilizing testamentary trusts with delayed payouts.

Continue Reading Growing Strategy To Stagger Receipt Of Legacies

This morning, the U;S. Supreme Court issued a major decision in U.S. v Windsor as Executor of the Estate of Spyer  which can be read here.  In doing so, it has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) , thereby granting  same sex  marriages the same rights enjoyed by heterosexual married couples under federal law.  The case was brought on by a  widow,  Edie Windsor who had been required to pay some $383,000 in estate taxes after the death of her wife Thea Spyer., The couple had been legally married in Ontario in 2007 and returned to New York which recognizes same sex marriage. Had they been a heterosexual couple, there would have been no estate tax to pay.

Continue Reading Supreme Court Srikes Down DOMA But Issues Still Remain

Conrad Teitell’s Philanthropy Tax E-Letter highlights some interesting and important points about charitable lead trusts. The trusts are used as a vehicle by high net worth individuals to provide benefits to charities of their choice while still passing the property to their heirs with little or no gift tax. Problems may arise if the donor’s involvement with the trust causes the value of the trust corpus to be included in his or her gross estate. If nothing else, this article underscores that complex trusts are a "do not try this at home" proposition. Their successful drafting, implementation and operation requires that you utilize the services of competent legal and accounting specialists to avoid serious pitfalls.

The Second Department of the Appellate Division has reversed the Brooklyn Surrogate in the Matter of Sylvester(2013 Slip Op 04613) , granting a widow the right to file a late notice of election against her husband’s estate.  A surviving spouse must give notice of her intent to exercise his or her statutory right of election against the estate of a deceased spouse within six months of the issuance of letters testamentary to an executor of the estate. In New York, the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) provides that if a surviving spouse is dissatisfied with the legacy left by his or her spouse’s will, it is possible to elect to receive an "elective share" of the estate amounting to the first $50,000 of the estate plus the next third rather than accept a presumably lesser legacy, thereby thwarting a testamentary scheme aimed at cutting one’s wife (or husband) out of a will. 

Continue Reading Appellate Division Grants Surviving Spouse Right To File Late Notice Of Election

The estate of boxing promoter Ronald "Butch" Lewis has raised a number of issues that a local law school professor has called "a great final exam question". As reported in Delaware Online, claims for child support must be filed against an estate within eight months of a person’s death. Lewis’ child, however, was not born until nine months following his death, the child support claim having been made just eight days after his paternity was established. 

Continue Reading Afterborn Child Causes Confusion In Delaware Estate

An article by estate lawyer Joseph Karp in The Palm Beach Post explains  the benefits of the charitable remainder trust. Even with the first $5.25 million exempt from estate taxation, there are those that can take advantage of this trust which enables the trust creator to set aside securities for the benefit of a favorite charity and, by doing so, reduce the tax liability of his or her estate while being able to receive the income from the investments during his or her lifetime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nobody likes to get a big tax bill from the IRS but imagine getting a bill for almost 2 billion dollars! The Detroit Free Press reports that the estate of the late billionaire William Davidson is going to tax court to contest a 1.9 billion dollar assessment (that’s Billion with a "B"!)

Continue Reading Estate Contests 1.9 Billion Dollar Tax Bill

Sibling rivalry takes on a new and unhealthy twist with the New York Post’s recent revelation that the adult children of the late real estate magnate Abe Hirschfeld have been engaged in an unseemly battle in the New York County Surrogate’s Court.

Hirschfeld , long a colorful character one New York’s real estate and political scene died in 2005. Court papers now show that his daughter Rachel has accused his son Elie of forcing Mt. Sinai Hospital to take extraordinary measures to prolong his life in order to save a 300 million dollar real estate deal, even though this was allegedly against medical advice and meant exposing his father to having to suffer through his last days in great pain.

Continue Reading Real Estate Mogul Abe Hirschfeld’s Children Battle Over His Estate

The New York Post has reported today that Justice A. Kirke Bartley has ordered Anthony Marshall to begin serving a prison sentence for looting the estate of his mother, socialite Brooke Astor who died at the age of 105 in 2007. Marshall, who at 89 is likely to be one of the oldest inmates of the New York State Penal system( the oldest is a 94 year old convicted murderer), first received notoriety several years ago when it was revealed that he had kept his elderly mother a virtual prisoner in squalid conditions in her vast estate in Westchester County New York. He was found, together with his attorney Francis X Morrissey to have forged a will in order to plunder his mother’s 185 million dollar estate.

Continue Reading Brooke Astor’s Son Goes To Prison Together With His Lawyer