The estate tax lapse for the year 2010 has already helped the heirs of several famous and very wealthy persons who, if they had survived until next year, would have left far less. TV personality Art Linkletter, actor Dennis Hopper, Taco Bell founder Glen Bell, author Louis Auchincloss, real estate developer Walter Shorenstein, pipeline developer ...
Oprah Winfrey, the famed and vastly wealthy US TV personality, has chosen to have her fortune managed by a private financial adviser. Going back to the origins of the “family office,” started by John D. Rockefeller in the late 1800s, That is a system where wealth managers handle only a single client or family. ...
As most now know, extraordinary tax savings are taking place for U.S. persons dying in 2010, because of failure by Congress to update the estate tax. The most dramatic example to date is that of Dan L. Duncan, a Texas pipeline tycoon and fanatic big game hunter who died in March, leaving an estate and ...
From January 2010, the Japan Organ Transplant Law has been revised, with somewhat mixed effect, to permit donors to give priority to their relatives in receiving donated organs. The new law also abolishes the prior minimum age of 15 for donors, so organs from children may now be used. Also, while the prior law requires ...
A Japanese professor accepted a visiting assignment with a university in New York City. As part of his arrangements, he deposited about $100,000 in cash in a bank there, which for sake of discussion I'll call Citibank. Unfortunately, while there, he died. As is common in Japan, ...
No doubt you have heard the saying about the shoemaker's children going without shoes. It means that a professional can be so focused on his work that he does not provide for the needs of his family. This year, and indeed this month, I resolve to do everything necessary to furnish my own children with health ...
A long-time, valued friend passed away this year and it has caused me to reframe my practice here in Japan. Tom Reilly of Kobe and I worked together for years in the Kansai Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce In Japan. Tom knew everybody and was particularly close to many regional government figures like ...