Samantha walks into your office. She tells you that she has a husband, Edward, of 10 years. Samantha and Edward have 4 children named Alexa, Brian, Chloe and David. Edward has 3 children from a previous marriage, named Felix, Gavin and Harriet. Samantha has $6,000,000 in the bank and no other financial assets. She also owns a home (in her name alone) at 90 Oak Street, in which she and Edward reside.
Samantha wants to minimize tax to whatever extent possible and she certainly wants to have Edward enjoy her money after her death, but she also wants to make sure that Alexa, Brian, Chloe and David get her money eventually. She does think that it would be nice to give Edward’s kids something, however. So she asks to have Felix, Gavin and Harriet each get $200,000 in her will. Samantha is also a philanthropist and she especially wants to support the American Cancer Society. Samantha wants her husband to be the executor of her estate and wants her oldest daughter, Alexa, to be the trustee of any trusts in her estate.
Samantha says that numbers and math and legal provisions give her a headache and so she will leave everything to you in terms of which will provisions to use. Samantha asks you to draft her Will.
She just has a few requests of you:
1) Make sure that her children are protected to whatever extent is practical
2) Give as much money to the American Cancer Society as is necessary to reduce her estate tax to zero
3) Give as much money to her family while reducing her estate tax to zero.
4) Make sure that her jewelry is split equally between Alexa and Chloe as the boys are not interested in the jewelry and she’d rather than her daughters get it than have it be sold for its value after her death.
5) She wants to make sure that if Edward is living, he will be able to live in her house. Therefore, she wants him to get the house outright at her death,
Please draft Samantha’s Last Will.
