Irrevocable Trust Could Have Saved Fuss Over Novelist’s Estate

The late Tom Clancy’s novels showed he had a remarkable grasp of military strategy.

His muddled estate shows he did not bring the same kind of acumen to his own personal financial affairs, according to a recent article on the website insurancenewsnet.com.

Clancy passed away in Baltimore on Oct. 1, 2013. He was 66. Even after his death, the writer’s estate continued producing bestselling books and video games.

It also produced a great deal of rancor among his survivors, some of which could have been avoided by better estate planning, according to the article.

“Less than a year after Clancy passed away, a heated battle over his estate unfolded in a Maryland probate court,” states the story. “The estate, which is estimated to be worth $83 million and could gain even greater value as Clancy’s works continue to be produced and sold, is being contested by Clancy’s widow and his adult children who were born to his former first wife. Among the probate issues being deliberated in court, there’s a monetary amount adding up to $18 million in state and federal taxes, which Clancy’s widow is petitioning to transfer over to the late author’s four adult children.

“Furthermore, The Wall Street Journal reported on the existence of a family trust set up by Clancy to leave his widow about 66 percent of his estate. However, Clancy’s widow claims that the wrongful execution of the estate caused a miscalculation that called for $6 million in taxes assigned to the family trust. There also appears to be will left by Clancy as well as a codicil executed a few months before the author passed away. Apparently, Clancy’s widow also sought to replace the executor of estate, who in Maryland court is known as a personal representative, since the current attorney serving in that capacity wishes to spread the tax burden equally amongst all heirs.”

“It seems as if Tom Clancy did not plan his estate as carefully as the highly organized military operatives in his novels,” Rocco Beatrice, Managing Director of Estate Street Planners, LLC, a financial planning firm focusing on asset protection, wealth management and estate planning, was quoted as saying. “It appears that Clancy left a will that created separate trusts for his widow and his four children from his first marriage, and the presence of a codicil suggests that he may have changed his mind at one point. With this in mind, it is not too surprising to learn that the Clancy estate is now going through probate.

“The fact that there is probate battle over estate taxation tells us that Clancy did not use an irrevocable trust, which could have prevented the current courtroom fight and the unwelcome media attention into his family’s finances.”