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Doris Duke died in October 1993 leaving an estate worth more than a billion dollars, and the years that followed produced one of the most closely watched fiduciary disputes in modern New York practice. What makes it useful as a planning example is not its size but a single decision the will made. Duke named, as the one individual to serve as executor of that fortune, the man who had worked as her butler. Nearly everything after that traces back to the choice, and to a questio

Married couples often assume that because they share their lives, they should also have one trust. That is not necessarily the best answer. In New York, a married couple can use either one joint revocable trust or two separate revocable trusts. Both can provide a way to manage assets during life, plan for incapacity, and control what happens after death. The better choice depends on the couple's property, family circumstances, and what each spouse wants to happen to his or he

Brooke Astor lived to 105 and spent most of her adult life giving money away. What makes her estate a useful planning example is not her fortune or the famous names attached to it, but her last decade, when the questions surrounding her became ones any family can face. Who decides when the client can no longer decide? Do documents signed late in life reflect what the client truly wanted? And what happens when the person closest to a declining parent is also the one who gains

On July 1, 2026, New York City began enforcing the state’s first pied-à-terre tax, an annual surcharge on residential property that does not serve as an owner’s primary residence. The measure had been proposed by successive administrations for more than a decade before finally pas sing this year, and it now applies broadly enough that many owners of second homes, and any trust or LLC that holds one, need to understand where they stand. Who the Tax Applies To One- to three-fam

Huguette Clark died in 2011 at the age of 104, having spent her last two decades in a Manhattan hospital room while three extraordinary homes sat empty and cared for. Her estate is a useful planning example, and not only for its size. Nearly every condition that makes a plan vulnerable appeared at once: great age, deep isolation, dependence on a small circle of caregivers and advisers, two conflicting wills signed weeks apart, and beneficiaries who controlled access to her. A

Marilyn Monroe died more than sixty years ago, yet legal and commercial questions connected to her estate have continued long after her death. That is what makes the estate useful as a planning example. For most people, estate planning is about deciding who receives property after death. But for clients with meaningful assets, complicated family relationships, valuable personal property, public visibility, or a strong sense of legacy, estate planning is also about preserving