Tax Battle Brews Over Tom Clancy's $83 Million Estate - Wall Street Journal (blog)

A tax battle is brewing over his $83 million estate, pitting Mr. Clancy’s wife against the adult children of his former marriage. His widow Alexandra Clancy is taking legal steps aimed at shifting all state and federal estate taxes—estimated in court papers at as much as $16 million—to the portion of the estate Mr. Clancy willed to the four grown children he had with his... Much of Mr. Clancy’s estate consists of a 12% stake in the Baltimore Orioles, valued at $65 million, and among his more unusual possessions was a World War II tank with “very low mileage,” according to Maryland probate court filings. Clancy died in Baltimore in October 2013. He and Ms. Clancy had a daughter together. Clancy, the sole or main beneficiary of two-thirds of the estate, claims in a court filing that the lawyer serving as the estate’s executor wrongly concluded that $6 million of the tax burden should be borne by a family trust of which she is... The petition argues that Mr. Clancy modified his will in July 2013 to ensure the family trust fell under the marital deduction, meaning her share would pay zero in estate taxes and the adult children’s share would pay the entire amount. Source: blogs.wsj.com