Bielski Law Office, Ltd.

Estate Tax On The Way Out in Delaware?

Delaware has become the latest state to entertain the idea of eliminating its estate tax. The reason for doing so is interesting.

Republican legislators in Delaware have introduced a proposal to end the state's estate tax effective July 1 of this year.

In doing so they are acting on the recommendation of a review panel created by the Democratic Governor. It turns out that the estate tax might actually be costing the state money.

Last year, the state took in $1.3 million in estate taxes. It is believed that the existence of the estate tax actually encourages wealthy, older residents to move to states without an estate tax.

This might cost Delaware more in income taxes than it receives from the estate tax!

Therefore, it makes financial and policy sense to eliminate the estate tax.

The Washington Times reported this development in a recent article titled "Republican lawmakers introduce bill to eliminate estate tax."

Many other states are currently debating eliminating their own estate taxes.

It is becoming clear that, at least at the state level, the estate tax does little to help the finances of the government. However, because the estate tax is always a hot button political issue for reasons other than government revenue, proposals to eliminate it often face uphill battles.

Thus, if your state has an estate tax that you would like to see eliminated, it would be a good idea to contact your state representative to let him or her know your opinion.

Reference: Washington Times (May 29, 2015) "Republican lawmakers introduce bill to eliminate estate tax."

Emotions and Estate Planning

Mental health professionals normally counsel that people should listen to their emotions. However, when it comes to estate planning, it is often a bad idea to be too emotional about the process.

Forbes recently published an interesting article titled "Don't Let Emotions Sabotage Your Estate Plan." The main gist of the article is that people often get emotional about issues surrounding death and end of life planning.

This, in turn, then causes them to put off estate planning, often until it is too late.

As the title of the article counsels this response is best avoided.

It is necessary to set aside any emotions or unease surrounding death so that you can adequately plan for your estate. As the article suggests, it often takes six months to two years to formulate a complete estate plan, depending on the size of the anticipated estate.

Accordingly, if you have a large estate, you cannot wait until you are near death to make plans.

Another piece of solid advice in the article is that you should revisit your estate plan every three years.

That does not mean that you have to go through the entire process again. It just means that you should sit down with your estate planning attorney and go over everything.

Make sure that no laws have changed that might affect your estate. Make sure that beneficiaries, trustees and executors are still appropriate.

In other words, every three years you should make sure that the estate plan still does what you want it to do. Doing that periodically will possibly save a lot of trouble for your estate.

Why not contact your estate planning attorney and schedule a full review if you are due?

Reference: Forbes (May 15, 2015) "Don't Let Emotions Sabotage Your Estate Plan."

Oscar de la Renta Snubs Son in Will

Oscar de la Renta was well-known for his charitable causes, especially in the Dominican where he was an unofficial ambassador and held a diplomatic passport. However, a decade old falling out was enough for the designer to snub his son.

Shortly after his first wife passed away, iconic fashion designer Oscar de la Renta adopted a son from the Dominican Republic, Moises de la Renta. Moises grew up to be a fashion designer as well and went to work for his father.

However, a decade ago, Moises decided to strike out on his own and start his own fashion line for women. The line never took off and Oscar de la Renta publicly criticized his son for the move.

The younger de la Renta eventually went back to work for his father's studio. It appears that the wounds were never completely healed over, as Oscar de la Renta, who passed away in October 2014, has given the son only a very small portion of his $26 million estate.

The majority of the estate will instead go to his second wife.

Language in the will also created a no contest clause that states the son is to get nothing if he ever challenges the will.

The Daily Mail reported the story in a recent article titled "Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta snubs adopted son from $26M will 'after high-profile falling out over son's clothes label'."

It should be noted that, even though the will contains a no contest clause, this is not necessarily the end of the story. Courts have been loath to uphold the clauses if a good reason exists for challenging a will and the challenge is made in good faith.

Whether or not Moises de la Renta does want to challenge his father's will remains to be seen.

An experienced estate planning attorney can help you protect your estate plan from potential beneficiary challenges, but great care must be taken.

Reference: Daily Mail (June 1, 2015) "Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta snubs adopted son from $26M will 'after high-profile falling out over son's clothes label'."

Robin Williams' Estate Still Disputed

The battle between Robin Williams' widow and his children has been resolved on some issues. However, one issue remains that must be decided by a court.

In the days after Robin Williams' suicide, it appeared that he had appropriately planned for how his estate was to be divided between his family members. However, it soon became apparent that a few ambiguities in his estate plan created conflict between his widow and his children.

As you may recall, his children were to receive the bulk of the estate, but his widow was left a house and money to maintain the home during her lifetime. That left the parties free to argue over whether certain personal effects of Williams' that were left in the home given to the widow should go to the widow or the children.

The two sides were able to resolve that dispute in mediation.

Unfortunately, as reported by the Telegraph in a recent article titled "Robin Williams family divided over his estate," the parties were unable to resolve how much cash should be given to the widow to maintain the home.

That is an issue that will need to be resolved by a court.

This is a battle that probably could have been avoided if Williams had been more precise in his estate plan. For example, he could have left money in a trust that his widow could use for necessary expenses for the home, such as maintenance and property taxes, with the remainder of the trust going to the children.

When planning your estate, details matter. Consult with an experienced estate planning attorney to help you cover all of the bases.

Reference: Telegraph (June 1, 2015) "Robin Williams family divided over his estate."

Australia's Richest Woman Loses Control of Family Trust

Gina Rinehart is the wealthiest person in Australia. However, it appears that greed might have cost her control of a family trust worth billions.

Gina Rinehart controls one of the largest iron ore mining companies in the world. She was also in control of a family trust created by her grandfather worth approximately $3.1 billion U.S. dollars.

The mother of four children was sued over the trust by two of those children in 2011.

The controversy started when Rinehart changed a vesting option on the trust from 2011 to 2068.

Now, a judge in New South Wales has ruled that Rinehart cannot be trusted to operate the trust reasonably and has appointed a daughter, Bianca Rinehart, to oversee the trust.

The BBC reported on the story in a recent article titled "Australia's Gina Rinehart loses control of family trust to daughter."

What this case shows is that it does not matter how wealthy you are. If you have control of a trust in which other people have an interest, you cannot operate the trust solely out of your own self-interest.

Trusts must be operated in the interests of all beneficiaries.

If you serve as a trustee, it would be a good idea to seek the advice of an estate planning attorney to make certain that you are managing the trust appropriately.

As Gina Rinehart learned, being wealthy does not give you license to mismanage a trust.

Reference: BBC (May 28, 2015) "Australia's Gina Rinehart loses control of family trust to daughter."

Unequal Inheritance Leads to Arson

People often have good reasons to leave their children unequal inheritances. However, there are always risks when doing so. While extreme, even arson is a possibility if one of your children is upset enough about receiving a smaller portion of the estate.

On a recent night in the Philippines, Rodrigo Bultron showed up at one of his sisters' homes under the influence of drugs and alcohol. An argument ensued and Bultron threw a burning object onto the roof of the house.

As a result of this act, the house caught fire along with the house next door which was owned by another of Bultron's sisters. Why this crazy behavior?

Local police surmise that Bultron believed that his sisters were given a larger portion of land from their parents' estate than he received.

This strange tale was recently told in an InterAksyon article titled "Drug-crazed man sets sisters' houses on fire over land inheritance dispute."

If true, this extreme case highlights the inherent danger of leaving unequal inheritances to your children.

While resorting to arson is unlikely in most cases, unequal inheritances are often the cause of family feuds over estates. If you are considering giving one child more than another, you need to proceed with caution.

The best practice is to communicate with your children during your lifetime about why they will not be receiving an equal share of your estate. You should also include specific language in your estate plan about the reasons for the discrepancy.

If you want to know what else you can do to minimize the chance of feuds when leaving an unequal inheritance, talk to an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: InterAksyon (May 24, 2015) "Drug-crazed man sets sisters' houses on fire over land inheritance dispute."

Was Bequest to Snowflake a Mistake?

What would you do if 10 years after receiving a life insurance bequest, the insurance company asked for the money back claiming it had made a mistake? The town of Snowflake, Arizona is currently facing that dilemma.

In 2005, Snowflake, Arizona received a life insurance bequest of approximately $73,000. The holder of the policy had been a former employee of the town and it was probably presumed at the time that he wished to give something back to it.

Recently, however, First Colony Life Insurance asked the town to return the money.

It seems the insurance company claims that a mistake was made and the town never should have been listed as a beneficiary on the policy. Before making a decision about what to do, the town is looking into the matter.

Naturally, the council would like to know why the company believes a mistake was made and whether the town has a legal obligation to return the money.

The Arizona Journal reported the story in an article titled "Bequest To Town Was Made In Error, Says Insurer."

This is an unusual case and it is impossible to speculate on what might happen. To date, the insurance company has not released details about what happened and why it believes a mistake was made.

Nevertheless, when you are creating an estate plan it is very important that any life insurance policies you have state clearly who the beneficiaries are.

The clearer your policy is, the less likely it is that mistakes will happen.

It would be disastrous if you use life insurance to balance your estate between relatives and the money does not go to the proper beneficiary.

Contact an experienced estate planning attorney for help to ensure that your estate wishes are crystal clear.

Challenge Coming over BB King's Will

BB King was one of the most celebrated blues musicians in the world. His passing on May 14th has left many singing the blues of their own, including his heirs who are expected to challenge his will.

Since BB King passed away there have already been accusations that he did not die of natural causes – that he was instead poisoned. However, the coroner has stated that there is no immediate evidence of that claim.

Prior to his passing, King's family and his business manager were already involved in a legal dispute that was thrown out of court. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the feud would continue after King's death.

Just hours before his memorial service, an attorney representing King's heirs announced that they would challenge his will and the actions of the business manager.

The manager stands accused of misappropriating millions of dollars, exercising undue influence and being unfit to act as King's executor.

You can read the sordid details in a recent article in The Guardian titled "BB King heirs to challenge bluesman's will and actions of manager."

As this challenge is very new, it is not yet possible to speculate on how it will go or even discuss the specifics.

On the other hand, the fact that the family's earlier case against King's business manager was recently thrown out of court does not bode well for challenging the manager now.

Avoid contentious postmortem squabbles later by working with an experienced estate planning attorney now.

The Importance of Following Through

Often after starting a legal matter, people neglect to follow through with them in good time. A recent case in Pennsylvania illustrates why that is not always a good idea.

When Kathleen Talerico filed for divorce, she and her husband separated. For three years, Talerico did not follow up on the divorce. Both she and her husband had affairs with other people.

Nevertheless, as is common with many on-again-off-again marital relationships, they remained in each other's lives and talked often.

One night while out at a party, Talerico's boyfriend beat her severely enough to cause internal bleeding in her brain.

She later died at home.

Because she was still married at the time of her death, Talerico’s husband would ordinarily have a right to a portion of her estate. However, as they had been separated a judge found that her husband willfully neglected the marriage and thus was not entitled to a portion of the estate.

The husband is appealing the judge's ruling, as recently reported by The Times-Tribune in a story titled "Spouse of homicide victim fights for share of estate."

What remains unclear about this story is what Talerico herself would have wanted.

Would she have wanted her husband to have a share of her estate?

We will never know for two reasons: First, Talerico did not follow through with the divorce proceedings and, second, in the absence of following through with the divorce she could have made her wishes clear in a properly prepared estate plan.

What this case demonstrates is the benefit to updating your estate plan when you file for divorce.

An experienced estate planning attorney can work in close coordination with your divorce attorney to make sure all of the bases are covered.

Reference: The Times-Tribune (May 23, 2015) "Spouse of homicide victim fights for share of estate."

The World's Biggest Estate Feuds

All over the world battles have raged over the estates and legacies of the rich and famous. It can be difficult to keep up with all of them.

Unless you constantly monitor the latest news on estates and the deaths of celebrities, it is difficult to stay informed about all of the famous estate battles that have occurred throughout the world. So many feuds have been fought over the estates and even the bodies of the wealthy and famous that serious dedication to the topic is required to know everything that has happened.

In case you might have missed any famous cases, the BBC News recently published a helpful rundown of some of the larger cases in a recent article titled "The who's who of battles for wills, bodies and legacies."

The celebrities discussed include:

• Michael Jackson - His estate has been embroiled with feuds over the validity of his will and the guardianship of his children.
• Leona Helmsley - Her estate included a bizarre battle over how much money she left to her dog.
• Ted Williams - After his death a fight ensued about whether or not his remains should be cryogenically frozen.
• Nelson Mandela - He left behind a fortune that is expected to be the subject of a feud.
• Nina Wang - Once Asia's richest woman, Wang's lover laid claim to her estate. However, the Hong Kong courts decided the fortune should be given to charity.
• Lilane Bettencourt - Although she is still alive, the battle over the L’Oréal heiress' fortune has already reached the French Presidency.

While you may not be a “celebrity,” you can avoid many pitfalls that are common to every estate by making proper plans with an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: BBC News (May 24, 2015) "The who's who of battles for wills, bodies and legacies."