Question

ATHI AND DARRIN LOVETTE CASE:

Kathi and Darrin Lovette Background

Kathi and Darrin Lovette, both age 63, have been married for 40 years, are both in good health, and they are citizens and residents of Louisiana. They expect to work until age 66 to 70. Kathi and Darrin live in a community property state. They have the following children and grandchildren:

Children	Age	Grandchildren
Elizabeth	Age 40	4 children (ages 15, 14, 13 & 12)
James	Age 35	3 children (ages 5,3, & 1)
Lynn	Deceased	1 child

Elizabeth, an estate planning attorney, is married, healthy, and happy. Kathi and Darrin adore Elizabeth’s husband, Scott, and Elizabeth’s four children.

James, a high net worth investment consultant, was recently divorced and his ex-wife, Catherine, has custody of their three children. Kathi and Darrin, never quite cared for Catherine, as she always seemed to be quite snooty. Since the divorce, the relationship between Kathi and Catherine has been very strained. Since his divorce, James has had somewhat of a mid-life crisis. He recently rented a penthouse apartment and bought a new Ferrari. James has also been dating Natalie, a 21-year-old swimsuit model. While Kathi and Darrin are confident that this is only a phase, they are concerned about giving any gifts outright to James or his children.

Lynn, Kathi and Darrin’s third child, was a bit of a wild child.   Lynn died in a tragic motorcycle accident in her senior year of college while she was on her way home to tell her parents about a big secret she had been keeping. The summer before, Lynn had given birth to a baby girl named Marie. At the time, Lynn gave the baby to the baby’s father, an older married man, although no official adoption was ever transacted. Kathi and Darrin still do not know about Marie.

Kathi and Darrin own Fresh Veggies, a popular organic health food store in a general partnership. Scott, Elizabeth’s husband, has worked at the store since he was a kid. Scott is now the store manager and handles most of the day-to-day functions, with very little input from Kathi and Darrin. Kathi and Darrin would like to reward Scott for all of his hard work by giving Scott and Elizabeth 3/4 of the interest in the business and giving the remaining 1/4 of the interest in the business to James. They do not want James to have any control over the business, just to have an income interest.

Elizabeth’s youngest child, Andrew, was born with a serious physical disability. To provide additional support for Andrew, Darrin created an irrevocable trust with Andrew as the sole beneficiary with a $8,015,000 transfer of separate property 5 years ago. The trust meets the requirements of Section 2503(c).

Asume for any calculations of GSTT that the annual exclusion was $15,000 and the lifetime exemption was $11,180,000. Also assume the the GSTT and gift tax rates were 40% for determination of GSTT even though they were paid 5 years prior.

Darrin and Kathi made the following additional lifetime transfers:

• Four years ago, Darrin gave Elizabeth, James, and their spouses $100,000 each (assume the annual exclusion at the time was $11,000) of community property.
• Two years ago, Darrin gave Elizabeth, James, and their spouses $200,000 each of his separate property. Darrin paid gift tax of $347,760 on these gifts.

Kathi and Darrin have never elected to split gifts of separate property.

Darrin and Kathi estimate the following at each of their deaths:

• The last illness and funeral expenses are expected to be $100,000 per person.
• Estate administration expenses are estimated at $250,000 per person.

Will

Kathi does not have a will. Darrin has an outdated will leaving most of his probate assets to Kathi.

Clauses from Darrin’s Statutory Last Will and Testament

I, Darrin, being of sound mind and wishing to make proper disposition of my property in the event of my death, do declare this to be my Last Will and Testament. I revoke all of my prior wills and codicils.       

1. I have been married but once, and only to Kathi with whom I am presently living. Out of my marriage to Kathi, three children were born, namely Elizabeth, James and Lynn. I have adopted no one nor has anyone adopted me.
2. I leave my Vintage Mustang and House Boat to my son, James.
3. I leave the life insurance proceeds on my life to my daughter, Elizabeth.
4. I leave Vacation Home 1 to my daughter, Lynn.
5. I leave Auto 1 to the Methodist Church, a qualified charity.
6. I give the residual of my estate to Kathi, my wife.
7. In the event that Kathi predeceases me or fails to survive me for more than six (6) months from the date of my death, I leave any interest of my estate determined to be payable to her to my children, Elizabeth, James and Lynn, in equal and 1/3 shares.
8. In the event that any of the named legatees should predecease me, die within six months from the date of my death, disclaim, or otherwise fail to accept any property bequeathed to him or her, then such interest will pass to the said legatee’s descendents, otherwise his or her share of all of my property of which I die possessed shall be paid equally among the surviving named legatees.
9. I name my best friend Keith to serve as the executor of my succession with full seizin and without bond.
10. I direct that the expenses of my last illness, funeral, and the administration of my estate shall be paid by my executor as soon as practicable after my death and allocated against the residual estate.
11. Since I have made numerous lifetime gifts to my children, all inheritance, estate, succession, transfer, and other taxes (including interest and penalties thereon) payable by reason of my death shall be allocated to the children’s share, regardless of whether my spouse survives me.

Statement of Financial Position (Darrin & Kathi Lovette)

ASSETS				LIABILITIES AND NET WORTH
Cash & Cash Equivalents				Liabilities
CP	Cash	$150,000		Current Liabilities
Total Cash / Cash Equiv.		$150,000		CP	Credit Card 1	$16,000
				CP	Credit Card 2	$5,000
Invested Assets					Total Current Liabilities	$21,000
CP	Fresh Veggies	$4,000,000
CP	Investment Portfolio	$13,000,000		Long-Term Liabilities
H	Life Insurance on Darrin	$1,000,000		CP	Mortgage – Primary Residence	$750,000
CP	Rental Property	$500,000		CP	Rental Property	$300,000
Total Investments		$18,500,000		W	Auto 2	$70,000
				Total Long-Term Liabilities		$1,120,000
Personal Use Assets
CP	Primary Residence	$1,500,000
H	Vacation Home 1	$950,000		Total Liabilities		$1,141,000
W	Vacation Home 2	$500,000
CP	Personal Property	$900,000
H	Auto 1	$70,000		Net Worth		$22,469,000
W	Auto 2	$60,000
H	Vintage Mustang	$80,000
H	Yacht	$900,000
Total Personal Use		$4,960,000
Total Assets		$23,610,000		Total Liabilities and Net		$23,610,000

Notes to Financial Statements:

1. Assets are stated at fair market value (rounded to even dollars).
2. Liabilities are stated at principal only (rounded to even dollars).
3. The adjusted basis of the personal residence is $600,000.
4. Kathi received vacation home 2 from her grandmother, Lois. Kathi and Lois were always very close and Lois gave her the home when Elizabeth was first born so Kathi could enjoy motherhood as much as Lois had. Lois purchased the vacation home for $30,000 and the FMV of the home at the date of transfer was $200,000. The FMV when Lois died was $250,000.
5. The life insurance policy has Kathi listed as the designated beneficiary. The Investment account is a Transfer on Death account with Elizabeth and James as the listed beneficiaries of both Darrin and Kathi’s shares.
6. The Yacht was purchased by Darrin after his House Boat was destroyed by a Hurricane.
7. Property Ownership:

• CP - Community Property.
• H - Husband separate.
• W - Wife separate.

8. Insurance face value (death benefit) and the cash value of $1,000,000 are the same.

TAX RATE SCHEDULE FOR GIFTS AND ESTATES (2018)

Bottom Limit	Top Limit	%	Additional amount
$0	$10,000	18%	$0
$10,000	$20,000	20%	$1,800
$20,000	$40,000	22%	$3,800
$40,000	$60,000	24%	$8,200
$60,000	$80,000	26%	$13,000
$80,000	$100,000	28%	$18,200
$100,000	$150,000	30%	$23,800
$150,000	$250,000	32%	$38,800
$250,000	$500,000	34%	$70,800
$500,000	$750,000	37%	$155,800
$750,000	$1,000,000	39%	$248,300
$1,000,000		40%	$345,800

Life:
Applicable Exclusion Amount (Credit Equivalency)	$11,180,000
Applicable Credit Amount (Unified Credit)	$4,417,800
Death:
Applicable Exclusion Amount (Credit Equivalency)	$11,180,000
Applicable Credit Amount (Unified Credit)	$4,417,800
Annual Exclusion	$15,000
GSTT Rate	40%
GSTT Exclusion	$11,180,000

Assuming Kathi died today, which of the following statements is true?

Group of answer choices

Kathi’s assets would avoid probate.

State intestacy law would dictate who received Kathi’s assets.

All of Kathi’s community property assets would transfer to Darrin because of the implied right of survivorship.

Kathi’s gross estate would include the life insurance policy on Darrin.

Answer 1

1. False - Whether a will is left or not the deceased assets are always distributed through a probate process by an executor when there is a will and by a administrator when there is no will. Only when the assets are transferred before the death itself the assets avoid a probate process.

2. True. As there is no will or estate planning the state intestacy law would decide who would receive Kathy's assets

3. False - Only half of the assets will be transferred in case of no will.

4. True - As Kathy was the beificiary of the policy it will be included in her Gross estate.

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