Famous Celebrities who failed to plan
While these accounts highlight the horrors of improper estate planning for celebrities and they get the press, what about the average affluent American? You know who I'm referring to; the neighbor down the street, associate, friend and relative who has a net worth in excess of $1 million they're considered wealthy, affluent. Tragically, most are no better off than Senator Kerr, Karen Carpenter, Jerry Garcia, Sammy Davis Jr or even Elvis. In fact, statistics show that 70% have no logical plan to distribute their wealth from one generation to the next. They play right into the hands of the Federal Government. It's lunchtime for the hungry agents of the IRS and they're eating fast food and plenty of it.
Huge Estates: Good vs Bad Estate Planning
Great Planning!
Henry J. Kaiser Jr.
*Henry Kaiser Jr., the Executive Vice President for Kaiser Industries left a Gross Estate of $55,910,373. Henry had the foresight to set up several estate planning techniques. 1. He purchased a life insurance policy. 2. He had the stock in his corporations transferred before his death out of his estate into a trust, all with separate property; which after death was charged with paying all taxes, allowances and claims of decedent, and balance to Kaiser Family Foundation, a charitable organization. See Charitable Remainder Trust and Family Foundations, to see how you too can use the same techniques as Henry J. Kaiser Jr.
Bad Planning
Howard Gould
*Howard Gould, the last surviving son of Jay Gould, the famous railroad builder left a gross estate of $67,535,386. He did absolutely no planning and could not use a marital deduction because of divorce. He incurred a whopping $52,549,682 worth of estate settlement costs, leaving only $14,985,704 to his heirs. That's losing nearly 78% of his estate to settlement fees and taxes! In fact, $36,648,229 went to pay for Federal Estate Taxes making Howard one of Uncle Sam's most favorite tax payers. Congratulations Howard!
* "Your Estate Research Service", Longman Group USA Inc., Longman Financial Services Institute, Inc. 1990.
