Rick Green - Connecticut's Caped Cusader

CT Confidential

Margot Claus, owes the court who wrongfully imprisoned her almost $1,000 according to Rick Green at the Hartfort Courant. The woman who was not a resident of Connecticut got tied up in the state probate system and had to be rescued German relatives.

Women's Cases Cry Out For Probate Reform from Rick Green at The Hartford Courant


There have been allegations of incompetence, corruption, and bribery that Green reports allows all kinds of people to make money off an old or ill person's estate. His probate blog posts are here.

Connecticut has a 300 year-old probate bureaucracy that runs 117 different courthouses and 117 judges. It does not allow jury trials and judges do not have to have training in the law. Courant columnist Rick Green has followed closely the stories of people caught up in the system and unfairly stripped of their rights. This reporting has finally paid off this year as Connecticut's Governor has introduced probate reform that will require probate judges to be members of the bar and consolidate the 117 courts into 36 courts corresponding to the boundaries of state senatorial districts.

She'll spend it, her way.

Heart Ranch - San Luis Obispo County California

A Conservatorship battle for Phoebe Hearst Cooke the 81-year-old granddaughter of William Randolph Hurst is underway. A temporary conservatorship has been granted and relatives are seeking to place control of Cooke's assets in the hands of her twin brother, George.

The LA Times reports that "documents filed in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court paint a picture of a searing conflict between a woman who can be fiercely independent-minded and relatives who say they are concerned about the alleged vulnerability of an elderly heiress."

Family members contend she has made a number of large monetary gifts and several valuable paintings are missing. Her attorneys allege a number of procedural irregularities.

Ms. Cooke has realized that she has "entered an era where she can be aided in the management of her assets," bus she should not be constrained from spending her money as she pleases. Her attorneys say that if her estate lost 5 million annually it would take 420 years to deplete it. According to Forbes she has a net worth of 2.1 billion. Today Hearst Corp. controls newspaper (San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle) and magazine (Cosmopolitan, Esquire) divisions, flourishing cable networks (stakes in ESPN, Lifetime, A&E). Also TV, radio stations.

See also the San Luis Obispo News Article

Scam Alert

Whittier police are warning their community of inheritance scams. The victims are approached in parking lots. The scammer tells them he has to go back to Africa, but can't take his inheritance with him because of crime and fear of hostage taking.

The scammer flashes some money and asks if the victim can recommend a church to which the inheritance can be donated. Often a finder's fee is offered. The scammer then convinces the victim to withdraw money as proof that the scammer can trust the victim. They are told to drive around the block and when they return, the scammer and the money have disappeared.

The scam has been perpetrated in Whitter, La Habra, and Laguna Beach. Victims have been in their 80s.

Ghandi's Glasses

The Indian government is protesting the auction of some of Gandhi's possessions, including his trademark glasses. Since the sale was first announced this month, Gandhi's great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, has solicited donations to buy the items on behalf of India. He has also called on the government for assistance in blocking the sale and criticized descendants of Gandhi and of his acquaintances who had previously sold the items to collectors.

The items, which include Gandhi’s round glasses, sandals, pocket watch, and some dishes. The bidding is set to begin on today at Antiquorum Auctioneers, assuming no agreement is reached beforehand.

A special Indian government committee has met twice and submitted recommendations for the return of the items. Such committees have generated results in the past: In 2007 the Indian culture ministry was successfully able to negotiate the return of a letter written by Gandhi shortly before his death from Christie's.

In the wake of a campaign to stop the sale, Tushar Gandhi, the civil rights leader's great-grandson, is also calling for the return of other treasures to India, including the Koh-i-noor diamond in Britain.

The 105-carat diamond originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. The diamond may have been discovered as much as 5000 years ago. It was seized by the East India Company and presented to Queen Victoria around 1850.

Don't Call, Everything is OK

A disturbing story out of Denver.

A Denver man belonged to an Elk's Club that supported a mental health facility for developmentally disabled children and adults. He walked into the facility last July and left an envelope. On the outside it read, "Wait until you hear from the coroner. Please don't call, everything is OK." Twelve days later Beech took his own life.

Inside the envelope was a check for $100,000 made out to the charity. It was cashed a few days after the man's death.

The family is now suing the facility for the money back because they say the facility could have done something to prevent the death.

Colorado law does not permit a killer to benefit from the estate of the person he murdered, but Beech's death was a suicide.

Chinese Version of Utah's DeChristopher

Also from Forbes

The Yves Saint Laurent Estate Auction included two bronzes that were looted in 1860 by French and British Troops. They are two of a dozen that decorated a fountain at a the Summer Palace in Bejing. The Chinese want them back. Seven have been found; the whereabouts of the five others are unknown.

Cai Mingchao bid 4 million dollars for them in protest of a French court decision that let the sale go forward despite a claim filed by the Association for the Protection of Art of China in Europe.

"I've never heard of a political protest like this, by making a giant bid," Ralph E. Lerner, co-author of Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers and Artists, is quoted as saying.

But Utah's Infamous "Bidder 70" is the trail blazer in the art of Protest by Auction.
Bidder 70 is Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old University of Utah economics student wanted to disrupt the auction and had no means to pay for his winning bids.

DeChristopher won the bidding on 13 parcels totaling 22,000 acres for $1.7 million dollars, and drove up the price of several other pieces of land.

Utah Treasures

Income Tax Code fuels Rise in Asprin Stock

From Forbes



--Individuals and businesses spend 7.6 billion hours a year filling out tax forms for the IRS. Those 7.6 billion hours consume the equivalent of 3.8 million full-time workers.

--The cost of complying with the code comes to $193 billion. Other experts think that assessment is too low and have come up with estimates approaching $300 billion.

--The number of words in the code has grown by 2.3 million since 2001.

--In 2008 there were more than 500 changes to the tax code.

--Other surveys have found that the code has been amended some 14,000 times since the mid-1980s.

--No one can cope anymore: "Individual taxpayers find the return preparation process so overwhelming that more than 80% pay transaction fees to help them file their returns."

Geneology

Estate Records may Reveal Previously Unknown Family Members

by Dee Gibson-Roles Asheville Citizen-Times

Estate and probate records are some of the most valuable documents to a genealogist. These records often contain information that can be found nowhere else.

I Guess He Thought No One Noticed

Tax scandals of the rich and famous from the Boston Globe.

Richard Hatch, the first winner of "Survivor" didn't report his million dollar prize and is serving four years and three months in federal prison.

. . . and Abbot and Costello? Say it isn't true . . .

Trivia

So far this year, the number of boxes of TurboTax software that Intuit has sold or sessions of TurboTax online that the company has logged totals 9.9 million, up 6 percent from the same period last year, according to the Silicon Valley Mercury News.

The IRS reports that last year 156,297,000 tax payers filed returns.

Dancing with the IRS

Brazilian race driver and "Dancing With The Stars" champ Helio Castroneves may face jail time if he is convicted at a federal tax evasion trial that will begin this month. He is accused of conspiring with his business manager sister and an attorney to hide income offshore.

Castroneves won the Indy 500 in 2001 and 2002 and TV's "Dancing With the Stars" competition in 2007.

Scam Alert!

Phone Scams target the bereaved families.

AARP

Callers claim that a deceased family member left an unpaid debt and threaten collection action. Often there is pressure to obtain personal information. Senior citizens are the target group for these scammers and the calls come shortly after the death has occured.