Saturday, February 6, 2010

A Tale of Two Heiresses, Tax Loopholes and Tequila

At first blush, Casey Johnson and Ruth Lilly, who died within days of each other around the new year, could hardly have been more different. Johnson who died at 30, was a party animal who lived her life in the public eye, most recently as the fiancée of D-list celebrity Tila Tequila. Lilly, 94, made her biggest waves not with clubbing but philanthropy -- most famously with her $200 million donation in 2002 to the Poetry Foundation, a bequest so eye-popping that the controversy surrounding it hasn't yet died down.

But scratch the surface, and similarities emerge. Johnson and Lilly were both heiresses to major corporate fortunes: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY). Both had massive personal wealth tied up in trusts they couldn't access directly. And both fortunes illustrate a yearlong Congress-induced quirk that could greatly benefit the heirs to anyone who dies this year, cost the U.S. billions of tax revenue, and drive estate-planning lawyers crazy.

Full Article and Source:
Casey Johnson and Ruth Lilly: A Tale of Two Heiresses, Tax Loopholes, and Tequila

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very Interesting situtation. I'm curious how the niece and nephew managed to get appointed guardian with out a stranger sniffing the money and getting appointed. Glad to see the previous consented and let the family be. Good call on the judge's part as well.

Watching said...

In the Lilly case, the nieces and nephews took on the guardian and had the guardian removed -- but not before the guardian and attorneys had enriched themselves on the Lilly fortune.

The guardian had previously been exposed in a major media expose a few years prior.