A Penn State professor was allegedly murdered last week by the woman to whom he offered shelter and her friend. The professor was allegedly pushed off a cliff because he had recently revised his will and they thought they would benefit from his death. The woman was also miffed because he had criticized the parenting of her child. One of the reasons cited by the police in their arrest of the couple was they were “known drug users.”
One legal point and two “I can’t believe this” points”:
1. Most states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, have “slayer statutes” which preclude murderers from benefiting from the will of someone they murdered.
2. It is incredibly presumptuous of the woman and her friend to assume that they were named as beneficiaries of the professor’s new will.
3. If “known drug user” is a marker for a criminal, then half of the adult population of Colorado are suspects for crimes there.
Stepping away from celebrities for a minute and focusing on estate laws, yesterday the IRS issued proposed regulations to minimize valuation discounts in estate planning. In a nutshell, the regulations prohibit taxpayers from dividing property between family members and then claiming their proportionate shares are not worth the exact proportion because that small proportion does not have control of the property. Wonky? Yes.