As I have previously discussed, Joan Rivers’ will named her state of residency as New York, but her domicile as California. The further action by her estate of filing her will in New York though probate is usually done in the state of domicile, creates questions as to not only the motivation for both decisions, but what the effects will be. One possible motivator may have been to take advantage of the varying estate tax, income tax, and probate processes of each state. Though California does not have a state estate tax, one possible risk of others splitting residence and domicile, either intentionally or not, is the estate facing estate taxes from both states. Such a dual state estate tax burden was faced by the estate of Campbell Soup founder John T. Dorrance after his death in 1930.
See Charles Douglas, Death and Domicile–No Joking Matter, Wealth Management, Jan. 5, 2015.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
