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Treasure Hunt

Tuesday, 21 February 2017 10:49

The State of Ohio is holding an auction this Friday and Saturday to sell the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes to make room for additional items in the Unclaimed Funds department.  The items include Kruggerands, silver bars, coins, and currency. This is the first auction of this type since 1998.  The state has had some of the items in its possession since 1968.

A few brief points:

1.  Some of the abandoned boxes belonged to decedents.  I always advise my clients to notify their executors of the location of any safe deposit boxes to prevent them being lost.

2.  The State of Ohio currently has $2.3 billion in unclaimed funds it is holding for their rightful owners.  Those funds can be claimed by completing a form on the Ohio Department of Commerce website.

3.  Almost 50 years since the state found some of these items?  The wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly.

 

Photo Credit:  Joshua A. Bickel/Columbus Dispatch
License:  Fair Use/Education

 

Happy New Year

Thursday, 05 January 2017 16:22

florida

Apparently I am only in the seasons’ greetings business. Celebrity estate planning blogging to pick up soon. Best wishes for the new year.

Merry Christmas

Thursday, 05 January 2017 16:19

christmas cardFrom my family to yours.  We are thankful for your friendship.

Attacking Camelot

Sunday, 17 July 2016 21:22
kennedy
Socialite Alicia Clark died in February. Her will left her $17.5 million estate to the Humane Society. Her estate is in the news because the administrator of her estate has filed a Freedom of Information request to open a file which might shed light on whether Clark was the mother of a JFK love child even though she had long denied having a child with the late President. 
 
She had reportedly planned to blackmail President Kennedy’s father in the early 60’s related to such rumors. The blackmail attempt only became public after her then attorney went public after she did not pay his $1.2 million bill (in 1961 dollars) for negotiating a will with her soon to die husband which gave her $10 million for 13 days of marriage. Meanwhile, a man in the Bahamas claims the will is fake and that her valid will is a handwritten will she made in the Bahamas in 2001. That alleged will left one million to each of the doormen at her NYC apartment and the caretaker of that apartment, and the rest to the guy in the Bahamas. Got it? 
 
So many possibilities, so let’s try to stay focused on the salient points: 
 
1. The JFK love child angle seems to be irrelevant. If Clark had a child and raised him, she would have provided for him in her will and would have been seen with him in the past 55 years. If she gave him up for adoption, that child has no rights under law because his rights to her estate would be terminated due to the adoption.  
 
2. Some (re: me) might think that the estate administrator is grandstanding (successfully because he made the news) or is running up a larger bill than necessary in looking for a love child who likely has nothing to do with the estate, even if he exists. 
 
3. Clark’s former attorney’s $1.2 million bill for what is essentially a pre-nuptial agreement seems excessively large by any standards much less those of 1961. Those agreements are not typically handled on a contingent fee basis which must have been the basis on which he billed. 
 
4. That said, $10 million for 13 days of marriage to a dying man might be worth a $1.2 million fee. 
 
5. Lastly, the Bahamas guy must be suffering from sunstroke or island fever. Everyone besides the writers of Harold and Maude knows that Manhattan socialites do not create handwritten wills on vacation to leave their estates to their staff and random guys in the islands.
 

Shake Down the Thunder

Sunday, 12 June 2016 23:16
aubrey mclendonAubrey McLendon was an Oklahoma City businessman who made his fortune in the energy business. He died in a March auto accident the day after he was indicted for allegedly rigging the price of oil and gas leases. He also owned 20% of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Attorneys for one of the lenders to his business have already filed motions in the probate court asking for input into the sale price of his interest in the NBA team. They fear the estate will sell it to his widow for less than the maximum price even though it is not currently for sale. They stated that the primary purpose of the probate court is to protect the interest of creditors.
 
Several quick points:
 
1. Under Ohio law, creditors have six months from the date of death to file a claim to protect their interest.
 
2. Once the claim is filed, they sit back and wait for the estate to be settled. Distributions may not be made until the creditor’s claim has been paid.
 
3. I love it when high priced corporate lawyers bring their white shoes, prestigious degrees, high billable rates, and commensurate bluster to the serene probate area where the purpose, contrary to their belief about protecting creditors, is to ensure the orderly transfer of assets pursuant to a decedent’s wishes in due time. Actually, I do not love it – I find it annoying.
 

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I am an attorney located in Cincinnati, Ohio who practices in the areas of estate planning, probate, asset protection, and small business advice. I make a difficult and bewildering process as simple as possible. Most importantly, I provide "more for less" for my clients.