After touching his stethoscope to her cool skin and heard the faintest of pulses. Here it was 4:50 a.m. on New Year’s Day, 2010, and he’s out in the freezing cold. He doubted that she would survive removal from the car, but they now had to try. He did a roadside blood typing and hooked her up to an IV of type O plasma. After an hour of jaws of life, reciprocating saws with diamond bits, they got Beatrice onto a stretcher and helicoptered her to a shock trauma unit. Needless to say the road was a huge back-up at 7:00 a.m. rush hour. At 7:30 a.m. she arrived at the shock trauma unit. She needed a transfusion, she lost both legs, the had massive bone damage, which would require surgery and her pet scan showed only slight brain activity. The doctors called her children and advised them that she was critical and that there was little hope and did they want the hospital to go to extraordinary means to save her life. Unaware of her estate planning views and with no Advanced Medical Directive, out of love and care for her, they ordered the doctors to try and save her life. After 10 hours of surgeries, she was still in critical condition.
HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!
Well its now 2010 and today there is no estate tax. There is no guarantee that Congress will not retroactively pass one that might pass Supreme Court muster. So, despite the possible tax savings for a person worth over $1.0 Million who dies in 2010, if these savings get cancelled out retroactively, you’ll still be dead. So spend your wealth, and enjoy the New Year. We’ll return to the perils of Granny tomorrow.
Suppose Decedent dies on January 1, 2010 and has what’s known as a formula clause which leaves the “maximum amount that can pass tax free” to a family style trust for the benefit of the husband and children. Now, consider Congress retroactively changes the law changing that amount to $3.5 Million. Now as of January 1, 2010, what is the trustee of the trust entitled to receive, all of decedent’s estate or $3.5 Million. Does he need to disclaim? Is he taxed on the entire amount if he funds that trust immediately? Lots of questions and unfortunately no good answers.
After the Crash
A minute later a motorist passed by and saw the smoking car and called 911 on her cell phone. She stopped but was afraid to go near the car. Shortly thereafter a trucker came by, pulled over and ran to the vehicle. He looked into the vehicle and saw a grisly scene. There was a woman pinned in the driver’s side, blood dripping from her mouth and she was unconscious. He could not tell if the bottom half of her body was still attached to the top half and there was blood pooling on the floor of the car. He reached in through the smashed side window and put his hand on her neck to feel for a pulse. The skin was cool to the touch, as though, the spirit had departed from the body. He frantically felt the bloody throat before him for a pulse and found none. A policeman, a fire truck, an ambulance all rolled up in about a minute. The paramedic approached the car with his stethoscope to see if there was even a faint pulse for if there was a massive rescue would ensue.
The Crash
The road was completely clear. She kept her foot on the accelerator, gaining speed. The speedometer on her 1998 Olds 88 slowly moved to the right pinning at 120 miles per hour. With tears streaming down her face, she guided the car to the left carefully aiming the left half of the car at the huge cement bridge abuttment. She kept reminding herself that she was doing this for her kids and grandkids, she knew the grief of her death would be salved by the millions they would not be paying the government in taxes. This was Estate planning at its coldest and cruelest.
The impact was sudden, the front of the car crumpled like a tin can under the foot of an NFL defensive lineman. The engine block flew into the drivers area of the car and the steering wheel column collapsed into her chest cavity. Everything went black before her.
Circling
Bea started down the last stretch and unfortunately, there was a truck in the right lane going about 40 miles per hour. Granny shook her head. Maybe this was a sign she shouldn’t do it. So she exited the highway, and looped back to the last exit and started down the road again. This time there was a school bus in the right lane taking kids home from a field trip to Washington. She looped around one more time. If she didn’t have an opening this time, she’d scrap the plan. She came down the ramp and started accelerating.