Taxation & Estate Planning

Paul Newman's Will and Codicil

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

Copies are online here. A few things of note:

-Paragraph 1.1 requests that the executor sell Mr. Newman's race cars and planes. When someone has a hobby like Mr. Newman did with racing cars, this is a great idea -- you let everyone know what you want to happen to your hobby-related property upon your death, so there's no confusion.

-Section 4 is new to me, as it relates to "Publicity and IP Rights."

-One of the things I like about living trusts is the privacy protection they afford. We can read Mr. Newman's Will online, which I'm sure horrifies some people. But Mr. Newman's Will is a public document. Mr. Newman apparently has a living trust, but it doesn't get invoked until much later in the Will (see Section 6). Obviously it's up to each attorney and client to decide, but my preference is to get as much stuff out of the Will as possible, so that the only substantive Will provisions relate to the residue of the estate (payable to the trust) and, if the testator has minor children, guardianship. That way the public is kept in the dark about what happens with Mr. Newman's Oscars, the loans he made to his daughters, and the like.

What's your favorite Paul Newman movie? I haven't seen them all, but I'm partial to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on November 24, 2008 (boomark / email).