Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog

Fun With Estate Planning

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Bank Fudges A Man's Existence

Stephen Fudge, a man from St. John, Canada, received a letter from his bank the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce offering their condolences for his death. The only problem was that Stephen actually physically received the letter and was not dead at all. After receiving the letter, Mr. Fudge humorously remarked, "This is not how I want to find out." The bank apparently thought that Mr. Fudge was dead because he was late to make a payment on his overdraft account.

After he made the payment, Mr. Fudge thought that his problems were over. Unfortunately, he was wrong. The bank would end up freezing his account several times until "the bank killed him off," according to Mr. Fudge. The bank apologized and noted that the problem was likely the result of human error. The bank vowed to correct any error they made and ensured Mr. Fudge that this would not affect his credit score.

See Bank Informed Man That He Passed Away, Yahoo!News, Jan. 2013.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

Holiday Parties and Networking

Holiday parties are in full swing, and these events give lawyers opportunities to engage in professional networking as they are enjoying the festivities.  

Above The Law featured an article entitled Moonlighting: How Not to Network, full of tips on what you should avoid at holiday parties.  The bottom line seems to be that indulging too much can backfire and it is best to be prepared, courteous and to follow up with new contacts after an event. 

See Jillian Snell, Holiday Parties and Networking Faux Pas, Wealth Strategies Journal 2.0, Dec. 20, 2012. 

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.

Fifty Free Meals...With A Side of Long-Term Life Insurance

Earl Bronsteen's 2010 New Year's resolution was to eat 50 free lunches at financial seminars.  In addition to attending those seminars and dining for free, he wrote a satirical book about his meals entitled "The Adventures of a Free Lunch Junkie."  

Out of all of the free seminars that he attended, only one spurred Bronsteen to action outside of eating the free lunch.  After attending a seminar on health care, Bronsteen took out a long-term care policy for his wife.  He notes that this purchase made sense because he and his wife are seniors and health care is so expensive.

See Daniel D. Williams, Confessions of a Professional Plate-Licker, LifeHealthPro, Sept. 4, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.  

"The Onion" Claims Creator of Fear Factor Leaves Interesting Will

The Onion "reported" that the will of John de Mol, creator of Fear Factor, has included some interesting options in his will. True to form, he bequeathed his estate to his wife and children on the condition that they fully consume the ashes from his freshly cremated corpse. If they complete the task, they will receive $10 million and a Caribbean vacation.  If they do not complete the task, they will not receive the inheritance unless they spend one hour locked in a coffin filled with maggots.  

See Fear Factor Creator's Will: 'Heirs Must Eat My Ashes To Collect Inheritance,' The Onion, May 11, 2005.

Please note the source of this material is The Onion which is known for publishing parodies so don't take this as fact!

Special thanks to Laura Galvan (attorney, San Antonio, Texas) for bringing this article to my attention.

Retirement and Beer

RothIRA.com created an infograph that demonstrates how saving today can help you tomorrow.  And they used beer as an incentive, advertising that you could pay for a stack of beer twice as high as the world's tallest building if you saved $1 a day from ages 25 to 70.  

Please click here to view the infograph. 

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan) for bringing this graphic to my attention. 

Wills with Quirks

Many members of the military draft wills before serving oversees in combat. Some servicemen have taken this opportunity to draft some of the funniest and interesting wills. For example, two servicemen bequeathed to each other $2,000 for the purpose of hosting a "killer party in each others honor." In other words, if one of them should die, the other promised to take the money and throw a huge party. The cherry of top is that one of them stated that he wanted the other to set up a cardboard cut out of the deceased servicemen at the party with a bottle of Maker's Mark Whiskey in his hand. Others were more meaningful. For example, one servicemen stated that his wife would receive the full value of his Group Life Insurance on the stipulation that she travel the world. 

See Walter Hickey, Quirky Wills From Military Members Headed Off To Combat, Business Insider, July 3, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse(Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.

Death, Taxes, and Zombies!?!

Adam Chodorow (Professor Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law) has recently published an article entitled, Death and Taxes...and Zombies, Iowa L. Rev. Forthcoming. The abstract from SSRN is provided below:

The U.S. stands on the precipice of a financial disaster, and Congress has done nothing but bicker. Of course, I refer to the coming day when the undead walk the earth, feasting on the living. A zombie apocalypse will create an urgent need for significant government revenues to protect the living, while at the same time rendering a large portion of the taxpaying public dead or undead. The government’s failure to anticipate or plan for this eventuality could cripple its ability to respond effectively, putting us all at risk. 

This article fills a glaring gap in the academic literature by examining how the estate and income tax laws apply to the undead. Beginning with the critical question of whether the undead should be considered dead for estate tax purposes, the article continues on to address income tax issues the undead are likely to face. In addition to zombies, the article also considers how estate and income tax laws should apply to vampires and ghosts. Given the difficulties identified herein of applying existing tax law to the undead, new legislation may be warranted. However, any new legislation is certain to raise its own set of problems. The point here is not to identify the appropriate approach. Rather, it is to goad Congress and the IRS into action before it is too late.

See also Lauren Davis, What are the Tax Implications of the Zombie Apocalypse?, i09, May 26, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.

Woman Misplaces Late-Husband's Van

An elderly woman reported to the police that her late-husband's van was stolen from her front yard. She filed a police report that the vehicle was stolen from her property, but otherwise indicated that there was no sign that a crime had been committed. Later, on the same day that the woman reported the van was stolen, the woman called the police again and reported that she had located the van under a great amount of weeds and tall grass. The police later confirmed that the van, in fact, was hidden under a bunch of tall grass.

See Kristi Reed, Vehicle Reported Stone Was Actually Hidden By Weeds In Yard, DaculaPatch, May 19, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

Grandparents Give Financial Advice To Newlyweds

Here is a link to a video of a married couple giving a wedding toast to a couple of newlyweds. Among their hilarious anecdotes and bickering, the couple gave the newlyweds some sound and common sense advice about life and money. This shows us that the elderly often choose to pass advice to younger generations about how to manage their finances. 

See Grandparents Send Awesome And Akward Wedding Toasts, Break, Apr. 25, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

Tax Write-Offs?

Now that tax day has come and gone, it's time to look at what could become the butt of many jokes. Sure, everyone dislikes taxes, but it must be particularly bad if you are a sports team owner who has made bad investments on free agents. If only it were possible for these agents to claim their poor investments as a loss. An excerpt from an article covering Arte Moreno's bad investment is below.I encourage you to read the rest of the article; it is a humorous look at taxes from the team owner's point of view:

You have to figure Arte Moreno will soon have a new appreciation for depreciation. That 10-year contract for Albert Pujols will cost the Angels owner $254 million over 10 years. And with Pujols earning only $12 million and $16 million in the first two years, the deal is backloaded so much that Moreno will be writing Pujols a check for more than $30 million in the year the deal expires just shy of the slugger's 42nd birthday. Can Moreno write this off as a gambling loss? Greece and Fannie Mae might wind up looking good by comparison.

See Tax Day Madness: The 10 Players Owners Wish They Could Write Off, Yahoo!Sports, Apr. 16, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

Priciest Items Sold on eBay

Everyday, many individuals place bids on items up for auction on eBay. However, those everyday bidders do not typically come close to bidding the price the following bidders paid for their eBay auction purchases:

• In 2000, Brian Seigel paid $1.1 million plus a 15% buyer's fee to get his hands on the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card that was issued in 1909. The small card measuring 2.5 by 1.5 inches was the most expensive item sold on eBay that year.
•  In 2010, an anonymous buyer placed the highest bid for a lunch date with Werkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet. The $2.6 million bid was part of eBay's most expensive charity auction-- the auction raised over $9 million for the Glide Memorial Church.
• Bridgeville, California and the town's 30 or so residents have been put up for auction on eBay three times since 2002. When the town sold for $1.77 million in 2002, it became the first town ever to sell on eBay. 
• An anonymous couple purchased a former U.S. missile base on eBay in 2002 for $2.1 million. The eBay description of the base where the government once housed an international ballistic missile silo described the site as the "perfect solution for the right family or corporation...[considering] the escalating threat of world terrorism and an increasing need for security."
• A 405 foot "giga-yacht," complete with a built-in helicopter garage, sold for $140 million in 2005. The anonymous winning bidder is no doubt enjoying the yacht's 10 multi-level suites with panoramic windows, eight cabins, salon, cinema room, fitness room, and office are. 
• In 2001, business plane vendor Tyler Jet sold a private jet on eBay for $4.9 million--the highest known sale price for any item ever auctioned over the website at that time.

For more pricey items sold on eBay, see Jason Henry McCormick, Most Expensive Items Ever Sold on eBay, CBS MoneyWatch, May 1, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

Woman Hits The Jackpot Twice!

An administrative mistake in the lottery process enabled a Virginia woman, named Virginia Fike, to win the state lottery twice. Ms. Fike purchased two lottery tickets at a local gas station when the clerk accidentally gave her two identical tickets for the same lottery. Ms. Fike intended to purchase two tickets, one for the Powerball lottery ticket and the other for the Mega Millions jackpot. Instead, she received two tickets for the Powerball lottery. Her winning numbers were based upon her personal information and her parents'. At the end of the lottery selection, all of her number matched twice except for the Powerball number. Ms. Fike won $2 million, or $1.4 million after taxes.

See Virginia Fike From Berryville, Virginia, Wins $1M Powerball Lottery Twice In One Day, Huffington Post, Apr. 23, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

WTE Exam Blooper

The following statement appeared on a student's exam in a Wills, Trusts, and Estates course and is supplied through the courtesy of an unnamed colleague:

"[I]t is better to heir on the side [of] caution when dealing with intestacy."

Olympic Organizers Invite Dead Drummer to Play During Opening Ceremony

Organizers of the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony recently asked the manager of the band The Who if Keith Moon, the legendary drummer, would perform at the London Games. The one issue with the request is that Moon died thirty-four years ago. Bill Curbishly stated that he responded to the request by saying that Moon resides at the Golders Green crematorium, but if the organizers had a round table, some glasses, and candles that perhaps they could contact him and ask him to play during the opening. The surviving members of The Who are expected to play some role during the Olympic festivities.

See Chris Chase, The Who Drummer Who Died in 1978, Was Invited to Play  at the Olympics, Yahoo!, Apr. 13, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

Billionaire, 94, To Marry For Fifth Time

Karl Wlaschek, a 94 year old Austrian billionaire, plans to marry his fiancé in the next few days—this will be the fifth marriage for Wlaschek. Though Wlaschek has four children from his first four marriages, he joked that he was getting re-married to add a few more children to the mix. Both Wlaschek and his fiancé Rikki Schenk, who chose not to reveal her age, were widowed on the same day by their previous spouses.

Wlaschek founded the Austrian retail chain Billa which he sold in 1996 for $1 billion. The sale of the company helped make Wlascheck the third richest man in Austria. With a current total net worth of $4.7 billion, Wlaschek is the fifth oldest billionaire in the world following Walter Haefner, David Rockefeller Sr., Albert Ueltschi, and Kirk Kerkorian.

See Brian Solomon, 94-Year-Old Billionaire To Marry For The 5th Time, Jokes That He Wants More Kids, Forbes, Apr. 16, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.

600 Kids And Counting!

The curiosity of two children conceived through the use of sperm donations led the children to discover that several hundred children may have been conceived from the sperm of only one donor. The father of these children is allegedly the founder of the fertility clinic, Mr. Bertold Wiesner. It is not surprisingly that Mr. Wiesner fathered several children through the clinic. Reportedly, Mr. Wiesner and a small group of his intellectual friends were known donors to the sperm bank. However, the amount of children that Mr. Wiesner may have helped conceive is staggering. After DNA tests were conducted on 18 of the children who were fathered from donations of Mr. Wiesner's sperm bank, 12, or two-thirds, were confirmed to be the children of Mr. Wiesner. Based upon this information, researchers deduced that Mr. Wiesner could very well have fathered between 300 and 600 children through the clinic.

See Rebecca Smith, British man 'fathered 600 children' at own fertility clinic, The Telegraph, Apr. 8, 2012; see also Up To 600 Children May Have Been Sired By Fertility Clinic Founder, MSN now, April 9, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

Man Buys Lottery Ticket and Gets Struck By Lightning

The saying “you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than winning the Mega Millions jackpot” became painfully true for 48 year old Wichita, Kansas man, Bill Isles. Last Thursday, after Isles bought his Mega Millions lottery ticket he told his friend that he had “a better chance of getting stuck by lightning” than winning the $640 million jackpot. Hours later, Isles was struck by lightning outside his home while operating a radio. Emergency officials took Isles to the hospital and he was released the following day. The lightning did not strike Isles directly so he did not suffer any burns, though he did have muscle spasms.

As it turns out, Isles was correct when he told his friend he had a better chance of getting struck by lightning—the odds of winning Friday’s $640 million jackpot were 1 in 176 million while the odds of  getting hit by lightning in a given year are 1 in 775,000.

See Bill Isles, Wichita Man, Struck By Lightning Hours After Buying Mega Millions Lottery Tickets, The Huffington Post, Apr. 1, 2012. 

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.

Impact of Latent Cerebral Recovery device on estate planners

David Russell, senior editor of The Mississippi Fiduciary blog, wrote on his blog about the Latent Cerebral Recovery (LCR) device developed in China. An excerpt of his posting is below:

A New England Journal of Medicine article reports today that a new device developed by Hungsing Labs in China, is capable of decoding brain cell activity after a person dies. In over two hundred clinical tests conducted on individuals only moments after pronounced dead, scientists were able to “ask the deceased” several questions related to their name, family, and other personal information, and decode the correct information after stimulating cells deep within the cerebral cortex. The device known as LCR (for Latent Cerebral Recovery) has already stirred controversy in China, where its use has prompted claims from family members that their loved one is not really dead, only in a deep state of sleep.* * *

Estate Planning lawyers see the tests as encouraging. “Over 50% of Americans die intestate,” says William Wrighter, JD, of Oak Grove, IL. “Imagine being able to execute a will even after someone was previously thought dead. It could open up a completely new area of estate law.”

Mr. Russell ends with an author’s comment: “to read the full story, don’t click anything. Just take note of today’s date and smile.”

David Russell, Medical Science Redefines Post-Mortem Planning, The Mississippi Fiduciary, Apr. 1, 2011.

Rainbow Sherbet Trust

Louse White, an 81 year old woman from Rhode Island, asked a family member who was craving rainbow sherbet to purchase White a lottery ticket when he went to the store to buy the frozen treat. The purchased lottery ticket ended up being a winner of the $366.4 million Powerball jackpot. White took almost a month to claim her prize, taking the time to consult with attorneys prior to coming forward as a winner. She and her attorney created the Rainbow Sherbet Trust, and White later claimed the $210 million using that name.

See $366.4M Powerball Winner is 81-Year-Old Woman, WHDH.com, Mar. 6, 2012.

Special thanks to Daniel B. Kelly (Associated Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School) for bringing this article to my attention.