Will of Jackie Kennedy Onassis - 3 Things to Consider in Your Own Estate Planning

Jackie Kennedy Onassis is a perfect example of estate planning gone right. In fact, her will and trust can be a case study on best practices for anyone to learn from (even if you don’t have $200 million in the bank).

Here are 3 things that Jackie O did well in her estate planning that you may want to consider in your own estate plan:

Consideration #1: Spreading the wealth

This might seem like heresy, but not everything has to go to your kids.

Here’s what Jackie O did:

1. She gave two indian miniatures to her friend, Rachel (Bunny) Mellon - 

   1. "Lovers watching rain clouds," Kangra, about 1780

   2.  "Gardens of the Palace of the Rajh"

2. A Greek alabaster head of a woman to her friend, Maurice Tempelsman

3. A copy of John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address signed by Robert Frost to her friend, Alexander Forger

4. She set up a charitable lead trust (more on that below) for the benefit of her sister’s, Lee B. Radziwill, then living children in the amount of $500,000 each (not bad)

5. She gave $250,000 to:

   1. Her personal assistant, Nancy Tuckerman 

   2. Her children’s nanny, Marta Sgubin 

   3. Her niece, Alexander Rutherfurd

   4. Her personal aide, Providencia Paredes

   5. Her accountant, Lee Nasso

   6. Her personal maid, Marie Amaral

   7. Her butler, Efigenio Pinheiro

6. She gave Hammersmith Farm to her step-brother, Hugh Auchincloss, Jr.

Consideration #2: Putting charity first

Rather than leaving gifts to her children outright, Jackie decided to place those funds in something called a charitable lead trust. A charitable lead trust is a special type of trust that allows an annuity to be paid to a charity for a given number of years and then disburses the remainder (the leftovers) to the ultimate beneficiaries (e.g., her children). While there are certain estate and income tax benefits of doing this type of charitable planning, it’s a great way to give back to various causes in a more flexible manner. In other words, Jackie’s executors aren’t tied or committed to giving the funds to one charity in particular. Instead they can decide what charity to donate to based on the instructions of her Will and their understanding of the donor’s intentions. 

Charitable lead trusts also specify how much is to be given on an annual basis - in this case 8% of the initial fair market value of the assets of the foundation.

Consideration #3: Contingency Planning

Jackie’s Will also clearly articulates what happens if a named beneficiary predeceases her.

For example, in your own Will, does your beneficiary’s share go to that predeceased person’s children or does it go to your “residuary estate”? If it goes to the children, in which manner? By right of representation (aka per stirpes) or per capita at each generation?

Jackie even goes so far as saying the ownership structure of real estate gifts.

For example, when gifting her real estate to her children (in equal shares), she states “as tenants-in- common” to make sure that each child’s individual and equal share is then subject to their independent estate planning preferences.

And then, just when you think Jackie has covered everything, she goes one step further by giving the option of a disclaimer (a mechanism that allows gifts to bypass a beneficiary) for additional contingency planning.

Why would she do that?

Jackie understood that the persons that she is leaving property to (most likely her children) may either not want the property, not need the property, or prefer the property be passed down the line (for example, to her children's children) for estate tax planning purposes. 

The way she communicates this is with a qualified disclaimer:

“I authorize and empower my children, within a period of nine (9) months from the date of my death, to renounce and disclaim all interest in any part or all of said real property devised to them”

And then directs where such money / property goes in the event that such qualified disclaimer is utilized:

For example: “I direct that any such interest in my real property in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts which is disclaimed by my children shall be sold, and the net proceeds of sale shall be added to my residuary estate, thereafter to be held, administered and disposed of as a part thereof”

On a side note: if you are curious why she chose 9 months after the date of death as a time limit, that is because estate tax returns are generally due 9 months after your date of death. Once again, she clearly had estate tax planning objectives in mind throughout her estate planning documents.

Jackie and her attorney added a lot of other great nuances to her Will, so you may be interested to read it in its entirety. 

However, if you’d prefer to leave the boring legalese to an estate planning attorney, then give me a call at 781 202 6368, email me at jlento@perennialtrust.com, or click here to schedule your free personal consultation.

I’m always happy to help,

Joseph M. Lento, J.D.

Your Local Estate Planning Attorney

www.PerennialEstatePlanning.com

477 Main Street

Stoneham, MA 02180