Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter

Let the Squabbling Begin

For obvious reasons, estate planning has become a larger part of my practice each year. People think I am exaggerating when I tell them some of the horror stories of poor planning I have seen. I explain that even Hollywood, with all of its imagination and stereotypes, has yet to adequately capture the greed and hatred that comes out when heirs and wannabe heirs fight over an estate. It is truly vicious.

Some people hope to avoid any bickering over their estates by leaving everything to charity. That’s probably what Vermont resident Edna Louise Holt thought when she was anticipating her demise, which came in 1998. She left her entire $25 million estate to her home town of Grafton, VT. And, as could be expected, there has been nonstop fighting among the 600 residents over how to use that money ever since. It may be a cliche; but it is true that money brings out the worst in people.

It really is impossible to anticipate everything that could go wrong. I wish I had the magic formula for how to avoid this kind of thing; but at least think long & hard about what could be the consequences of your estate decisions. Of course, there may be those who would relish the idea of everyone fighting over their things, sort of like tossing a stink bomb into a party.

KMK