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May Be The Answer???

pwilliepwillie Member Posts: 20,253 ✭✭✭
edited July 2015 in General Discussion
Read this....



Sometimes, at a most solemn moment, a most irreverent thought shoots through the mind. When I heard that the US Supreme Court legalized happy marriage, my thought was "I wonder what the estate tax lawyers will make of it?" How about advising a terminally ill widowed grandma to marry her much-beloved granddaughter at the deathbed? Won't the estate pass to the surviving spouse intact? I'm not a lawyer, but I think it will -- without IRS getting the bite out of it as would happen now. And it would be very hard to have a sound legal argument against such marriage. Isn't it born out of love? Absolutely. But doesn't it go against the prohibition of marriage with a blood relative? But this prohibition is rooted merely in the very same authority that also prohibits the same-sex union, and hence could survive judicial review if litigation results.









The law of unintended consequences may work to surprising effect. The very people who are today repelled by the court's decision may come to embrace it as a tool of keeping their wealth in the family; the government that is now elated with the court's decision, may yet come to rue it when US Treasury's estate tax revenue dwindles.





It's a brave new world out there. One wonders how the lawyers will navigate and harness it.

Comments

  • andrewsw16andrewsw16 Member Posts: 10,728 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A trust fund would serve the same purpose and not incur the social complications. [:D]
  • yoshmysteryoshmyster Member Posts: 22,051 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    So will grandma get some of that grand daughter to consumate the "marriage"? And andrewsw16 even this act isn't worthy of Jerry Springer moment.
  • shilowarshilowar Member Posts: 38,811 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by yoshmyster
    So will grandma get some of that grand daughter to consumate the "marriage"? And andrewsw16 even this act isn't worthy of Jerry Springer moment.


    Is there a legal requirement to "consumate"? I don't think so, just the appropriate signatures on a Marriage license.
  • mogley98mogley98 Member Posts: 18,291 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Not sure about Grandma but what if people started "marrying" for social Security, retirement or healthcare benefits.

    Example: Some old timer is hard up but sells a marriage to a person who can than draw Survivor benefits on the geezers SS, Retirement or Healthcare.

    If he/she was say 88 and dying but someone promised to give his/her grandkid 10K for college if he/she would marry them making them eligible for potentially tens of thousands of SS payments? Or maybe he has a retirement that can transfer to a spouse? Or healthcare?
    Why don't we go to school and work on the weekends and take the week off!
  • discusdaddiscusdad Member Posts: 11,427 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i am sure the KING's representative would show up to take 1st dibs on that
  • Ditch-RunnerDitch-Runner Member Posts: 25,366 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I remember reading when I was a younger fellow a lot of civil war vets very late in life marred very very young girls the girls were then entitled to the benefits of the vet when the passed that was in the 1960's not sure if any of the brides are still kicking .
    so at least some of the vets had a ( hopefully ) swell time late in life or living like old Heff at the mansion
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