Jason Jones

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 question every client...

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 her assets. When a...

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 plan can become...