Redkey Gordon P.C.

Will Battles Happen in New Zealand Too

Although the vast majority of estates aren't contested, the more money that is at stake, the more incentive a family member has to try to get some of it. 

Certain family issues in the USA are unique to our country. However, some people tend to have the same behaviors and problems everywhere in the world.  

One example is the tendency of people to fight over a wealthy estate. Whenever there is enough money involved in an estate to make it worth fighting over, people who are not happy with a distribution plan tend to fight anywhere in the world. 

A recent article in The New Zealand Herald, titled "Families at war: When wills go sour," tells accounts of three current disputes over wealthy estates that have families fighting with each other.  

While the details of the disputes make for interesting reading, there are more important lessons to be learned from the article. The key take away is that in New Zealand the likelihood that these disputes will arise can be lessened through proper estate planning. 

The same thing is true in the United States.  

Families will often fight over wealthy estates, but the likelihood of that happening can be lessened with proper estate planning. It is impossible to make the chance of family dispute zero percent, however. If you do not want your family to fight over your estate, then you should see an Sacramento estate planning attorney to lessen the probability that they will and communicate your intentions to your loved ones in advance. 

Reference: The New Zealand Herald (October 17, 2014) "Families at war: When wills go sour"

Schemers Steal Property of Deceased Neighbor with No Heirs

Six Philadelphia men forged, cheated and lied their way into collecting a dead woman's house and car, police said. 

If no heirs exist and no estate plan determines where your estate should go, it must be up for grabs. Right? Well, no. But unfortunately for one woman's estate, this scenario was all too real. 

In 2010, a Philadelphia widow named Dorothy Kennedy passed away. She did not have an estate plan or any known heirs. By law her property, including her house and car, should have become government property, assuming no heirs could ever be found. However, Kennedy's neighbor had other plans.  

He wanted the house and car for himself and he enlisted his attorney to assist him. The two came up with a scheme to have the neighbor named as administrator of the estate. They forged documents to make it appear as if the neighbor had cared for the woman. They even enlisted the assistance of two funeral directors to submit a false funeral bill. Later a realtor and a car salesman were enlisted to fraudulently transfer the house and car to the neighbor. Philadelphia police recently learned of the plot and have charged all 6 involved as reported by the New York Daily News in an article titled "Band of 6 crooks concoct elaborate plot to steal dead woman's house, car: police." 

This is obviously an unusual story and not likely to happen to anyone. It should be noted that if Kennedy had an estate plan, it is unlikely the plot would have ever been hatched. She could have decided who was to receive her property. If she had wanted, she could even have given it to the government. Keep a copy of your file at Rekey Gordon P.C. law offices and this would never happen to you.

Reference: New York Daily News (October 18, 2014) "Band of 6 crooks concoct elaborate plot to steal dead woman's house, car: police"

Art Once Stolen by Nazi's Is Subject of Lawsuits

When Christie’s auctioned off Edgar Degas’s “Danseuses” for nearly $11 million in 2009, the catalog noted that the masterpiece was being sold as part of a restitution agreement with the “heirs of Ludwig and Margret Kainer,” German Jews whose vast art collection was seized by the Nazis in the years leading up to World War II. But now a dozen relatives of the Kainers are stepping forward to object.

If valuable art is stolen, but then recovered after the original owner passed away, who gets to claim it? And how long should the person or business who recovered the art look for the rightful heirs?

When the Nazis rose to power in Germany, the wealthy Jewish couple Ludwig and Margaret Kainer fled to France. They left behind a valuable art collection that included original Monets and Degas amongst other pieces. All of their valuables were confiscated by the Nazis. After the war and before any of that property could be recovered, the Kainers passed away. They had no children. The art ended up in the trust of Swiss Banks, which at least nominally transferred them to a foundation that had previously been set up by Mrs. Kainer's father. A recent article in The New York Times, titled "Heirs Sue Bank Over Sale of Nazi-Looted Art," has the full story.

The foundation sold one piece of the art a few years ago. However, the Kainer's heirs claim that the bank and foundation did not do due diligence to track them down. The heirs are suing to recover the money from the sale. The bank, of course, claims it did enough to track down the heirs. If the bank turns out to be correct, then it will win this lawsuit.

Most of the time when heirs are filing lawsuits decades after someone passes away, the problem could have been avoided by proper estate planning. Robert A. Gordon is your Bay Area estate planning attorney at Redkey Gordon P.C.  However, this is an unusual situation because of the complications of war and looted valuables. Although the valuables can be recovered, it is a long and difficult process.

Reference: The New York Times (October 17, 2014) "Heirs Sue Bank Over Sale of Nazi-Looted Art"

Beneficiary Designations 101

The decision about how to designate beneficiaries for your company retirement plan, life insurance policies, and other assets might seem like a no-brainer. Chances are you would like those near and dear to you to inherit any money you've accumulated during your lifetime, so making sure that happens should be as simple as writing their names on the appropriate forms, right? Not so fast. 

Have you designated beneficiaries on the appropriate accounts? Are you sure you did it right? 

A good estate plan uses a wide-variety of vehicles to distribute the estate. Today, that normally means that retirement accounts and life insurance are used to help quickly distribute assets to heirs after someone passes away. Because of this importance, you need to know how to go about designating beneficiaries to receive the assets.  

A recent article in Morningstar, titled "How to Handle Beneficiary Designations," provides a list of things you should consider, to include: 

• Know the basics - It is important to know what documents you can use to designate assets to beneficiaries and know that the assets will automatically pass to the beneficiaries after you pass away. 

• Keep Designations Current - You should review your designations regularly and make changes as appropriate. 

• Consider Tax Consequences - Your beneficiaries might have to pay taxes on the assets. 

• Be Specific - If you want a beneficiary to distribute the assets to other heirs, you need to state how specifically. 

• Give special consideration to special needs loved ones - Consider how heirs with special needs will inherit and handle the assets. 

• Know about other estate planning tools - You need to know what else you can do to plan your estate. 

The list is a good one and the last item is perhaps the most important. You cannot use beneficiary designations in this way for all of your property, so visiting with an Sierra Foothill estate planning attorney about what else you need in an estate plan is a must. 

Reference: Morningstar (October 10, 2014) "How to Handle Beneficiary Designations"

Suspicions Arise When Doctor Is Added to Will

Donna Spears, a longtime friend of centenarian Helen Schlesinger, claims in her Manhattan civil suit that New York-Presbyterian physician Dr. Lawson Moyer has broken the law by both treating the 470 Park Ave. resident and appointing himself as her power of attorney. 

Can you trust your doctor with your will? 

A recent article in The New York Post, titled "Doctor wrote himself into 102-year-old patient's will: suit," tells the story of a lawsuit recently filed in New York. Helen Schlesinger is 102 years old and has assets worth millions of dollars. In 2003, she wrote a will leaving the bulk of her estate to her friend, Donna Spears, and an unnamed family member. Spears has filed a lawsuit against Dr. Lawson Moyer. She alleges that after he began caring for Schlesinger, Moyer rewrote her will. The new will allegedly gives Spears only $25,000. It also leaves $100,000 to Moyer with the remainder to be distributed to charities. 

Beyond the headline-catching parts this is a very common scenario, if not the most common scenario, in disputes over estates.  

It is often alleged that the caregiver of an elderly person has induced the elderly person to rewrite his or her estate plan in the caregiver's favor. Sometimes, that turns out to be exactly what happened. However, it is also not uncommon for an elderly person to want to rewrite his or her estate plan to leave money to a caregiver without any wrongdoing having been done. The issue is a difficult one for courts to sort out. 

Anytime that you rewrite your estate plan, you should have the advice of an independent estate planning attorney. That will lessen the likelihood that someone will be able to dispute it successfully in the future.  Please contact your local Sacramento estate planning attorney, Robert A. Gordon to seek advice on drafting your will or trust.

Reference: New York Post (October 16, 2014) "Doctor wrote himself into 102-year-old patient's will: suit"