One of my recent “ask the taxgirl” questions involved whether Michael Jackson’s funeral expenses were deductible. When I paused to consider whether I wanted to post about Michael, a colleague kindly offered to address the issue on his blog at sofloridaestateplanning.com. The blog is authored by David Shulman, an attorney located in South Florida who focuses his practice on Wills, Trusts and Estates, and Tax Planning. David has been blogging other issues related to Michael Jackson, so I was more than happy to defer to him.
So are those expenses deductible? Check out David’s answer over at SoFloridaEstatePlanning.com and see. For the record, I concur with his answer!
Thanks, David!
There’s Trouble in New York. And he’s rich.
Trouble, the beloved Maltese belonging to Leona Helmsley, is the beneficiary of a $12 million trust fund, according to her will, which was made public Tuesday in surrogate court. Helmsley’s brother, Alvin Rosenthal, was named Trouble’s caretaker.
Helmsley’s only child, Jay Panzirer, died at the age of 42 of a heart attack. Helmsley successfully sued his estate for the repayment of borrowed funds. Jay’s wife, Mimi, and Helmsley were not on good terms after Jay’s health (Helmsley had Mimi evicted). There is speculation that Helmsley’s relationship with Mimi lead to a troubled relationship with Helmsley’s grandchildren: two of the four, Craig and Meegan Panzirer, were disinherited in Helmsley’s will.
The majority of Helmsley’s estate will be sold and the money distributed to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. The tax savings for the donation will easily be in the billions.
You can read the will in its entirety here.
