This from Samantha E. Weissbluth writing for Wealth Management:
In a recent New York case, a father, in his will, dictated that his gay son’s child get nothing unless his son married the child’s mother. Manhattan resident Frank Mandelbaum founded the ID verification company, Inteli-Check, and
Let’s say you got a divorce. As part of the divorce agreement your ex agreed to leave half of his estate to your kids. He dies. He leaves a will that doesn’t comply with the agreement – leaving 90% of his estate to his second wife. What happens? Enforce the contract you say, the kids get half. That’s what you and I think the answer should be. Maybe you have a divorce settlement with a similar provision. Will it hold up? That is the issue that has been tying up the Oleg Cassini estate for years.
Oleg Cassini, the fashion designer who made first lady Jackie Kennedy’s style the "single biggest fashion influence in history" died in 2006. Jackie had chosen Oleg Cassini as her exclusive couturier and called him her "Secretary of Style."
Cassini married film star Gene Tierney in 1941. Tierney, a very successful actress, was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in "Leave Her to Heaven." (The story is the basis for the plot in Agatha Christie’s murder mystery, Mirror Crack’d.) Tierney and Cassini had two daughters, Christina Belmont and Daria Cassini. When Tierney was in her first trimester of pregnancy carrying Daria, a fan with German measles broke her quarantine to shake hands with her favorite star, and Tierney unknowingly contracted the disease. Daria was born deaf, severely retarded and nearly blind.
When Cassini and Tierney divorced in 1952, the marriage termination agreement mandated that half of Mr. Cassini’s estate be split equally between the couple’s two daughters upon his death.Continue Reading Is a Divorce Agreement That Promises an Inheritance to Kids Enforceable?
If you are divorced, or you advise clients who are divorced, this is important. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) takes precedence over the Pennsylvania statute that removes divorced spouses as beneficiaries. What this means is that unless your employer’s plan contains a provision to
J. Michael Young blogs about a change of beneficiary designation when the decedent lacked sufficient mental capacity or was the victim of undue influence. He provides an excellent discussion of In re Estate of Wallis in this post.
The October 29, 2008 edition of Trust & Estates contains this article: A Final Win for the Lawyer of Erin Brockovich Fame.
Edward Masry was the California trial lawyer who with the help of an assistant named Erin Brockovich brought a class action lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Company for groundwater contamination which caused wide-spread illness
The Toronto Sun reports that Heath Ledger’s 2-year-old daughter, Matilda, will inherit his entire estate. Apparently, the family "gave" all the money to Matilda. Heath’s estate is estimated at $16.3 million.
See the my earlier post, The Joker, describing the issues in Ledger’s estate. His will, executed two years before the birth of his daughter
William F. Buckley, the conservative columnist who died in February 27, 2008, had one son, Christopher Buckley. Christopher has two children, Caitlin and William, with his now-estranged wife, Lucy. Christopher had an affair with book publicist Irina Woelfle and together they had a son, Jonathan, now age 8.
William F. Buckley’s will contained this provision: "I intentionally
You can shuck corn, too. And peas and beans. Bet you never thought of this:
Jerry Orbach’s son, Chris, says his stepmother, Elaine Cancilla-Orbach is a "double-dealing, lying, scheming, miserable fool." All he got from his dad’s estate was "a few CD’s, two sweaters, a pool cue and a pocketknife."
Heath Ledger, famous for his protrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain (2005). died January 22, 2008. He had just finished filming the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, where he played The Joker: The Clown Prince of Crime. The Harlequin of Hate. The Ace of Knaves.
According to The New
We usually think of a person’s will as a financial document used to make sure his or her estate is distributed according to his or her wishes. The will can also be used as a constructive tool or a destructive weapon to reach other goals, which often do not involve money.
Eddy M. Elmer, in