Florida Probate Attorney and Florida Inheritance Lawyer Florida Probate Attorney Blog

Wall Street Journal - Bill Gates may be Berkshire CEO short term if Buffet resigned soon.

Interesting video by the Wall street journal discussing that Berkshire Hathaway the multi billion dollar conglomerate run by Warren Buffett the 2nd wealthiest person in the world who has vastly increased the size of a lot of people's trusts and estates but is now 80 years old may seek his friend and the 3rd wealthiest person in the world to run the company short term if he were to resign soon. This follows the resignation of David Sokol who was widely believed to be a successor upon Buffet's eventual resignation.

They have worked together on charitable causes and seeking to get other billionaires and multi millionaires to donate at least half of their estates to charity. Gates having run a major company prior to resigning from Microsoft is thought to be able to lead in the short term even though it would be a different industry but is believed to be more interested in spending most of his time on his charitable foundation so would just be a short term solution. 

Wall Street Journal video click here

 

Facebook post leads to successful kidney transplant from virtual stranger.

Two men who met only briefly a year earlier when one bought a computer from the other formed a much more lasting connection as a result of a wife's Facebook posting seeking a kidney donation for her husband.

Roxy Kurze was desperate to find a kidney donor for her husband Jeff, 35, and posted a notice on Facebook seeking someone willing to do so who had blood type O.

The Michigan couple realized they had a three- to five-year wait by using the normal route of being on the hospital's waiting list. Roxy Kurze knew time was of the essence. Her husband had already suffered a stroke, and dialysis was leaving him physically depleted.

"Wishing a kidney would fall out of the sky so my husband can stop suffering," Roxy Kurze wrote on Facebook. "So if anyone knows of a live donor with type O blood, PLEASE let me know."

Ricky Cisco, 25, didn't know Jeff Kurze by name. But he knew Roxy only slightly, through a work-related Facebook "friending" that might as well have been as distant as Mars. At his computer, on Facebook one day, he saw her posting for a Type O donor and was intrigued. He was Type O.

The two men have now become actual friends and visit around once a week. "

Click the Today.com link for a video discussing the story. 

Photo by AP

 

Elizabeth Taylor Estate worth around $1 Billion. Will Probate or Trust Litigation be required?

Elizabeth Taylor was well known as one of the most famous actresses Hollywood has ever produced after seven decades in show business she became a major worldwide celebrity and icon. Sadly she passed away Wednesday at 79.

During those seven decades she built a huge fortune through gifts from eight different husbands and numerous boyfriends as well as major success as an actress and business person through building her brand as Elizabeth Taylor which she was one of the first to do. Her overall wealth including the rights to her image, her jewelry and business interests may reach a billion dollars. It is estimated to be worth between $600 million to $1 Billion dollars as estimated by a Businessweek Diane Brady senior editor on The Early Show on Saturday morning.  

 "But, you know, clearly, they're auctioning off her jewelry collection. They think that's going to be about $150 million. She had real estate that was worth at least $130 million.

"But a lot of the money she made was actually in her perfume business. She had costume jewelry.

"This was an entrepreneur. So it wasn't just an actress who amassed a fortune. She was one of the first people out there basically branding her personality."

"But the perfume business was where she made a lot of her money - even last year, $77 million in sales.  

She was the first woman to get $1 million for a movie. But, the reality is, she made most of her money as an entrepreneur."

So what happens to that money now?

"That's a very good question. You've heard, 'Will it go to the dog?' 'Will it go to the manager?' 'Will it go to the kids?' There is a sense a lot of her money will go toward AIDS. That was obviously something that was a big cause of hers. She raised more than $270 million for that through her foundation. Four children, I'm sure she'll give some of it to them. But realistically, I think that a lot of it will go toward the research that she felt was very important."

 I think we'll see a lot of money made for and from Liz Taylor for years to come."

 Another good question will be whether the family will fight over it and force probate and trust litigation to consume the probate courts and much attention. The 4 children were from 3 different fathers and there were many grandchildren and some great grandchildren who came from her 8 marriages. 

Elizabeth Taylor is nearby in the same funeral home as Michael Jackson. While there is only one Graceland possibly if permitted by the facility charges could be taken to come to her final resting place. 

It will be interesting to see if her estate planning efficiently passes her property and is as astute as she was or is a mess like Elvis Pressley and other celebrities which squanderd a large amount in poor estate planning. 

With 8 different marriages, charities likely being involved and such a blended scenario it will also be interesting to learn whether the beneficiaries will dispute the terms each is probate for and contest the terms of a will or trust or it passes smoothly. 

Sometimes when the family is not in harmony or with greedy beneficiaries when there are non titled assets such as jewelry some beneficiaries try to get their hands on the property and sell or take for their own benefits prior to even seeing what the terms of the will says. In her case there was around $150 million dollars worth of jewelry alone nearly all of which was given to her as gifts.  

The US Treasury can be relieved she passed away in 2011 while there is a $5 million exemption and not in 2010 when George Steinbrenner and at least 4 other billionaires passed on with no estate tax.  

See also CBS News Elizabeth Taylor's Estate may be around $1 Billion

3 minute video discussing her $150 Million Jewelry collection. 

Liz Taylors Estate and Yours Market Watch Video regarding documents people should have. 

Elizabeth Taylor Death Certificate  

Madoff Bankruptcy Trustee seeks more money from charity controlled by NY Mets Owner

Irviving Pickard is seeking $1 Billion dollars to be returned from "false profits" from the Madoff ponzi scheme in which money was taken out more money than had been invested. He had filed a lawsuit for that but was given until Friday to amend and is now going to add charities that Wilpon charity controls. Today he added the charitable funds and is pursuing millions further from them. 

See Trustee Targets Wilpon Charites.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed to give half his wealth to charity

Mark Zuckerberg the 26 year old Chief Executive Officer of Facebook has signed the Charitable Giving Pledge proposed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet for multi millionaires and billionaires to give away half or more of their wealth to charity. He is estimated to be worth $7 Billion dollars although the vast majority of that is in Facebook.com stock which is not publicly traded. Mark said that "People typically wait until late  in their career to give back but why wait when there is so much to be done".

As the San Jose Business Journal reported December 9 2010 he joined other very wealthy people who have recently joined in the Charitable Pledge. Some of these people include former AOL chair Steven Case, Junk Bond investor Michael Milken, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, movie producer George Lucas, Oracle Co Founder and CEO Larry Ellison worth $27B as of 2010 and private equity investor and corporate raider Carl Icahn. 

Will Contest - Undue Influence and lack of capacity alleged in change of Billionaire Melvin Simon's estate and trust.

Melvin Simon was around the top 300 richest people in the Forbes 400 (# 278 when he was 79 years old). He died around 82 years of age. His estate was worth around $1.3 billion dollars.  

Dana Hunsinger of the Indystar.com provided an update of the probate and trust litigation. The judge dismissed part of the case in which his daughter Deborah Simon stated fraud as the claim but was not specific enough in nature. It is allowed it to be refiled. The Probate court Judge failed to dismiss the estate dispute claims against her stepmom Bren Simon which argued undue influence and lack of mental capacity.

While I am not familar with Indiana Probate case law or statutes in Florida can't really merely rely on presumptions to prove an undue influence case against a spouse however she appears to be seeking to prove it directly and using evidence of lack of capacity or diminished capacity.

She indicates that not only were the documents changed just months before he died and was a significant change from prior wills which then gave her stepmom hundreds of millions more while vastly reducing what was going to charity or to herself and her siblings she also indicated that her father Billionaire Mel Simon was suffering from significant neurological problems at the time which impaired his memory, understanding and communication. It is undisputed that he had difficulty even signing the documents although his spouse Bren says that is from Parkinsons and that he signed freely, voluntarily and knowingly.

As I tell clients who inquire about Florida Probate Litigation Information a person can leave there property to anybody they want for any reason they want. However, that is subject to them having mental capacity and there not being evidence of undue influence that they were coerced into doing so and the result was the other persons influence and not their own. The article does not provide many details of undue influence although based on the time line and the capacity issue along with the large change in disposition it seems questionable that he even formed an intent to change the document and undue influence is often combined with diminished capacity which was clearly present here so this will be an interest case to see where it goes. When discussing a potential challenge to contest a will or trust and dispute the intent I do like to see some of the facts that Deborah appears to have here he had a previous plan which she was provided significantly more for, then there is the alegation of significant neuroglogical problems and he was not even able to sign and he was somewhat elderly as well as died just months after signing the document so the timeline looks good. The facts will need to be established to prove the case though was it his intent to provide more for his spouse and did he know what he was doing and act voluntarily will ultimately decide the issue. However with this much money involved and a reasonably good timeline but with it being the spouse and difficult to win unless they can do so on the capacity issue or have direct facts proving undue influence they should settle it would seem in both sides best interests. While sometimes principle is important and it may be worth fighting until the end in a case like this both sides can be sufficiently provided for in a settlement and factoring in the time and saved expense in court costs and attorneys fees it may be a smart move. Anna Nicole Smith estate suing the estate of her deceased billionaire husband and opposed by the estate of his son shows how extended cases of this size can become if each side has a fight to the death mentality. All the initial participants literally did in that case and it is still going on after 15+ years and numerous appearances in multiple different types of courts. She has been awarded $474.5 million around around 89 million and most recently nothing but her side has said they may seek to be heard a second time by the US Supreme Court on a different issue.

On a final note back to the Melvin Simon case it is best that his daughter brings the challenge regarding lack of capacity or diminished capacity and potential undue influence since frequently talking with and seeing her father she could likely present any facts which existed to the court more easily than a charity who may not have had much contact with him. However if a representative of the charity were to know of his condition at the time of execution and chose to join the suit they would be an interested party given the millions of dollars less they would be receiving under the revised will and trust.

Billionaire secret meeting in New York to discuss charitable giving.

As reported by  NBC Chicago,  New York Post  and other sources on May 5 2009 there was a secret meeting of Billionaires in New York City at Rockefeller University and was organized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to discuss charitable giving and each participant was reportedly given 15 minutes to discuss what causes they felt needed the most help given the economy conditions to benefit those in the country and worldwide as well as seeking ways to raise overall charitable giving. Those present were Warren Buffet,  Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, David Rockefeller Jr.   George Soros  Ted Turner and Oprah Winfrey among a few other less well known names.

The group has donated $72.5 Billion dollars to charity since 1996 according to Chronicle of Philanthropy tallies.