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Posts Tagged ‘trustees’
Animal Charities ask for Helmsley’s Billions
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
A petition that concerns Leona Helmsley’s will is claiming that the office of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issues incorrect analysis and a surrogate judge has used faulty reasoning before millions in grants were paid out by the estate’s trustees.
First of all, the major beneficiary in her will (worth $12 million) is her beloved Maltese named Trouble. However, the dog was mentioned only once in the petition and then another in the supporting documents.
Three animal protection groups filed the petition saying that the money of Mrs. Helmsley is not being spent on dogs as mentioned in her will. These three groups are Maddie’s Fund, American Society for Prevention of Animal Cruelty, and Humane Society. They accused the estate trustees of Mrs. Helmsley of a “scheme to deprive welfare charities to dogs.” Her fortune is estimated to be around $5 billion but only $1 million were earmarked for organizations taking care of animals.
A professor of law and philanthropy at New York University, Harvey Dale, said that this lawsuit may face significant hurdles since donors, beneficiaries, and potential beneficiaries don’t have any standing to intervene. Maddie’s Fund president, Rick Avanzino, acknowledged that there’s difficulty in challenging trustees because their organization was not even named in the will of Mrs. Helmsley. But still, they will push through with this lawsuit to penalize the trustees who chose to ignore the wishes and direction of their benefactor.
Tags: American Society for Prevention of Animal Cruelty, Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General, estate, Harvey Dale, Humane Society, law, lawsuit, Leona Helmsley, Maddie's Fund, petition, Rick Avanzino, Trouble, trustees, will
Posted in Wills | No Comments »
Family Trust of Michael Jackson Controls His Estate Decisions
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Michael Jackson Family Trust was set up as the entity to be used in helping out the recipients of Jackson’s will. Most importantly, this trust will control Michael Jackson’s estate. As dictated in his will, he’s giving all his estate to the family trust where all assets will be managed as one rather than separate entities. This will make it easier for the executors. Having the trust in place will also help his children in the long-term as well.
In his will, Michael outlined exactly what needs to take place. Section III of the will drafted in 2002 states that “I’m giving my entire state to the Trustee/s under that certain Restated and Amended Declaration of Trust…All such assets shall be distributed, managed, and held as part of said Trust…”
In other words, Trustees of Michael Jackson Family Trust will have great power when it comes to his assets. However, if you read between the lines, it would mean that they’ll also need to over-see how many monetary assets as well as the intervals when Michael’s kids will see these funds.
Trusts like these need to be set up to help people awarded with physical and monetary assets in a will. It will also allow the Trustees to disperse assets at the right time and advise the kids along with it. Jackson’s mother, Katherine, will retain some rights as guardian of his children; therefore, she has a vested interest in this estate.
Tags: estate, executors, Family Trust, Katherine, Michael Jackson, trustee, trustees, trusts, will
Posted in Family Trust | No Comments »
Make Sure You Have the Right Estate Plan
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
There was once a lady who recently lost her husband. She is in the midst of settling his affairs but the problem is that she’s having trouble cashing a check from the insurance company because it’s payable to a trust. However, she claims that they don’t have a trust in place.
After reviewing the check and a pile of papers, the Indiana Bar member, senior trust officer and vice president of First National Bank, Christopher W. Yugo, indeed found a joint trust amendment which changed the trustees. The amendment was signed by the lady and her husband but she swore that she never met an attorney.
As Yugo probed deeper, he realized that the couple sought the assistance of a financial planner for their estate plan. Then, the planner took the information to one attorney who prepared the necessary documents. In the end, the documents were returned to the planner who probably did his best to execute the plan while ignoring the implications of unauthorized law practice.
You can learn two things from this story. First, be careful who you approach for estate planning advice. It’s always critical for you to meet with an attorney before executing an estate plan. Second, it’s important to have a basic knowledge of estate planning. Furthermore, don’t hesitate to ask a lot of questions to your attorney so that you’ll understand every detail of your estate plan.
Tags: attorney, Christopher W. Yugo, estate plan, Estate Planning, financial planner, trust, trust amendment, trustees
Posted in Estate Planning | No Comments »