Sign of the Times

Clipped from an online ad for a Maine law firm:

A Corporate Executor and Trustee is Worth Fighting For

Real estate bigwig and philanthropist George Kaufman changed his will shortly before his death, removing his longtime lawyer as executor and trustee. Now the lawyer has gone to court, claiming the changes are the result of elder abuse by Kaufman's wife.

Kaufman's will divides his estate among various individuals and creates a charitable foundation. The final amendment designates Bessemer Trust as executor and trustee.

The choice of a trust company, The Wall Street Journal reports, has drawn the approval of New York State officials:

The office of New York’s attorney general, which supervises charities in the state, has supported Bessemer, calling it a “disinterested, neutral corporate fiduciary.” The attorney general’s office accused [the lawyer] of being motivated by his own financial interest and holding up the creation of the charity.

The Lawyer Who Wrote Novels in Court

Like J. D. Salinger, wills and estates lawyer Louis Auchincloss lived ninety years and more. Unlike the reclusive Salinger, Auchincloss, who died Tuesday night, never stopped writing – novels, stories, biography and more – even as he continued to wrestle with trusts and codicils. “I think my secret is to use bits and fractions of time. I trained myself to do that. Anybody can do it. I could write sitting in surrogate’s court …."

In his novels Auchincloss sketched a vanishing world of privilege, a world of prep schools, town houses and the use and misuse of wealth.

Except, he said, that world did not vanish after all:

“I grew up in the 1920s and 1930s in a nouveau riche world, where money was spent wildly, and I’m still living in one!,” [Auchincloss] told The Financial Times in 2007. “The private schools are all jammed with long waiting lists; the clubs — all the old clubs — are jammed with long waiting lists today; the harbors are clogged with yachts; there has never been a more material society than the one we live in today.”

Money, Money, Money (and Lawyers)

The Enron settlement gives $7.2 billion to shareholders and a record $668 million (plus interest) to lawyers.

Law firms don't do quite that well with trust and estate cases. Still, billable hours can add up over the years. Gerry Beyer on his blog notes that squabbles have swirled around the estate of Tom Carvel, the soft ice cream king, ever since his death. That was back in 1990. Legal fees to date: $28 million.