Jackie O's Charitable Lead Trust

Merrill Anderson's trust marketing publications covered Jackie O's charitable lead trust in some detail when the news of it broke.   We called it an astute strategy for disinheriting the IRS.  However, the trust was never funded, and I never heard the rest of the story.

According to Conrad Teitell, as reported in Trust & Estates, the trust was a fallback provision.  Most of the wealth was already in a revocable living trust, whose remaindermen were Carolyn and John, Mrs. Onassis' children.  The property would have passed to the the CLAT only in the event that the children disclaimed. They decided against that, based upon the facts and family circumstances at her death.