• 11
  • May
    2011

A lumber and iron baron named Wellington R. Burt, who died in 1919, stipulated in his will that his descendants could not inherit his wealth until 21 years after the death of his last surviving grandchild.

Ninety-two years later, that time has finally arrived. Burt's last granddaughter died in 1989, so now twelve surviving descendants are poised to split the fortune, estimated to be worth around $110 million.

It is not known why Burt included the provision in his will. He was known to have some conflicts with his children. He did leave them relatively small annual annuities amounting to around $5000 a year. However, he did leave one favorite son an annuity of $30,000 a year, and one daughter got nothing, due to a dispute with her father over her divorce.

So Burt's strange exclusion of his children and grandchildren from any outright inheritance of his fortune is not without some indications that there were problems within the family.

Most Florida estate planning attorneys asked about the provision in Burt's will would probably say that such a provision was nearly unheard of.

The language of the provision mirrors a common law provision of real property law called the Rule Against Perpetuities. The point of the Rule Against Perpetuities is that society does not want the dead to control the use of property by the living, at least not for an overly long period. Thus, the rule arose that provisions governing the use of property could only extend for the lifetime of a "life in being," plus 21 years. The person could be anyone, not just the property owner, so often very young people were chosen to be the "life in being" named in the rule.

This is consistent with Burt's decision to delay the inheritance for a life in being plus 21 years (assuming all his grandchildren were born and "in being" when he made the will). He may have simply used the Rule Against Perpetuities as a model, or he may have hoped to delay the inheritance further, but thought his wishes might be thwarted by his descendants trying to apply the rule to his will.

In any case, the long wait is over.

Source: ABC News "$100 Million Finally to Be Split Between Descendants, 92 Years After Rich Relative's Death" 5/10/2011