One of a kind - RIP

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

It will be a fight to the finish

Following up to a story we picked up earlier this month, the settlement of the estate of Mary Kass the Provincetown artist died last March is going to be a long slog. The fight started even before she died between her caretakers and her immediate heirs, a niece and nephew.



The judge has rejected the Kass heirs petition to be executors and Merrill Lynch who had been serving as co-trustee with caretaker Elizabeth Vallari has requested that she be removed. Furthermore, because of the estate's extensive art collection, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has gotten involved to represent the National Gallery of Art, who was bequeathed her $26 art collection. That part of the case will likely be sent to federal court in Boston.

So the judge has taken the action away from the contestants and appointed a local independent CPA as special administrator to manage the affairs of the estate until it can be settled.

“I think this case is in for the long haul, unfortunately. I think it cries out, as the guardianship case did, for an independent special administrator."

H/T Wicked Local Provincetown

Write up by the Boston Globe

Unintended Consequences

The Metro train car that slammed into another on the Red Line killing 9 and injuring 76, was two months past due for scheduled maintenance on its brakes, and the car was an older model that federal officials had recommended be replaced because of concerns about its safety in a crash, according to the Washington Post.

From Concurring Opinions, via Taxprof, Taxes incentives may be a cause of the crash. Taxes not only raise revenue they influence behavior, intentionally or not so much.

Here the Metro authorities knew that the aging trains posed safety concerns, one reason they weren't so quick to ask, according to Prof. Sarah Lawsky is they were received money for keeping them.

The Metro Transit Authority sold equipment, including train cars, to another party then leases it back. The other party gets various tax advantages associated with owning the equipment that the Metro as a tax-exempt organization can't take advantage of. In return the company gives a cut of those tax savings back in cash to the Metro.

Father Killer Lives Large

Chagrin Falls, appropriate name for the birth place of this man. Eight months before his eighteenth birthday, he smashed his father's head - killing. He did it most likely for inheritance money. He didn't like his dad. He never felt remorse. But, he did accept the inheritance from his father's estate.

He spent time in a juvenile facility, no time in prison. He's never worked a day in his life. He married an heiress over the strenuous objections of her father.

Before the marriage he wrote a bizarre letter to his soon-to-be father-in-law, asking for a “dowry.” Along with the dowry, he wanted a studio apartment and a salary all in payment for him be her husband. Plus he requested a severance package if the marriage broke up.

Now that the marriage that afforded him the good life has ended and he's looking for another Mrs. Right. More wapo.com here if you're interested

For the 2nd time in as many weeks a body is discovered that was left behind by a San funeral home. This time in San Antonio. A neighbor stumbled onto this one that had been ditched in a shed behind the abandoned parlor. The body was that of an elderly woman, laid out in a casket and dressed for a funeral.

The business manager said that the body had been kept because the family could not pay for cremation or burial. The family claims that the body was supposed to have been cremated in 2006.

Flukes

A San Jose woman who organized a car wash to help pay for the funeral of her brother's baby was hit by a pickup truck and killed while participating in the fundraiser.

Hitler's Favorite Composer

Father leaves great grand daughter with a weighty historical legacy

From outsiders, always questions. From the insiders, always silence. If Katharina Wagner, the great-grand daughter of Richard Wagner, gets her way, it will be answers.

The 31- year-old stage director recently took over as co-director of the Beyreuth Festival, Richard Wagner's own opera house, after a long and fierce family battle. The Festival began 133 years ago to showcase Wagner's work.

Sculpture of Richard Wagner by Arno Brekker, Hitler's favorite sculpture.

There has been a long association of Wagner's name and works with racism and anti-semitism. Adolf Hitler was his a fan of the composer's music as well as his anti-Jewish views. Hitler thought that Wagner's opera's spoke to his vision of the future of the German nation. Wagner's influence on Nazism is still debated today. and saw in Wagner's operas an embodiment of his own vision of the German nation.

Now Katharina wants to access the history even though some members of her family are against it. She has asked independent investigators to delve into her family connection to the Nazi regime and to open up the private archives of her father Wolfgang Wagner.

Exotic Fates of 10 People Who Shoulda Known Better

In 1912, an Austrian tailor named Franz Reichelt came to believe that he had successfully made a coat that would double as a parachute.

"Instead of testing it by, say, jumping from the roof of a barn onto a haystack, he traveled to Paris and leapt off the Eiffel Tower, falling 197 feet to his death."



In 2006, Ohtaj Humbat Ohli Makhmudov of Azerbaijan attempted to prove the existence of God by climbing into a lion’s den at the Kyiv Zoo in Ukraine. “Because God loves me,”

Veronica, one of the zoo’s trio of lionesses, pounced on him, leaving 10 puncture wounds in his neck. He died instantly.

The rest are at obit-mag.com

Proper Asset Titling a Fundamental Part of the Estate Plan

From the LA Times, a primer on asset titling:

Tenancy by the entirety - available only to married couples. Each spouse has an undivided interest and equal right of possession. Also each spouse inherits a deseased spouse's interest. Creditors of either spouse cannot attach a lien on a property unless the judgment is against both of you.


Tenancy in Common - Each owner owns a set but not necessarily equal percentage. No rights of survivorship. Each owner can convey his portion without the consent of other owners. Unless the property is held in trust, it will go through probate at owner's death.

Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship - This is like Joint Tenancy, but the property is not protected from the individual creditors of each owner. Also this property will always transfer to the surviving Joint Tenant owner.

Sole Ownership - You have sole control over the property and can will it to who you want. If you marry later, your spouse isn't an automatic co-owner, and depending, if you divorce, your ex-spouse may not have any claim to the property.

The article lightly discusses trust and tax issues, but as always, you should consult and professional estate planning attorney.

Estate Planning is for Everyone

At getrichslowly.org there is a guest post from Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool.

"We interrupt this regularly cheerful website to bring you some unpleasant news: You’re not going to live forever. And, just to pile on the unpleasantness, you might become incapacitated before you join that Great Tax Shelter in the Sky."

Then he goes on to tell what you need to know.

10 steps everyone should take to get their legal ducks in a row.

1. Create or update your will
2. Get a living will
3. Appoint a durable power of attorney.

Read the rest here. If you live in Utah and need help with any of this contact us.

Keeping Lenin in Lusrine Suits

The fund that cleans up the mummified Lenin every three years is out of money and can't afford to buy him the lustrine (silk) suit that he prefers.

More at obit-mag.com

More from neatorama.com

150,000,000 people have visted Lenin's Tomb.

Work on improving his appearance continued for decades after his death.

The mausoleum is kept at 59F.

There is a "body brigade that regularly removes Lenin's clothing and examines the body for signs of wear and tear.

Every 18 months he's bathed in preservatives and injected with chemicals.

Over My Dead Body

California law gives inheritance rights only to children conceived within 300 days of the parents death. 10-year old Brandalynn's father died in 1995. Her mother was impregnated with his sperm in 1998 and the girl was born in 1999. Also the fact that there was no evidence that the father had given consent. Consent indicates a willingness to support.

So the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling that the child was not eligible for federal survivor payments under California law. (Vernoff v. Astrue http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/opinions/)