What Will Happen to Robert Durst’s Inheritance?

Robert Durst is now in a Louisiana prison waiting to be sent back to California to face charges alleging that he killed a friend who may have uncovered why his first wife vanished thirty years ago.  Durst, 72 and a trust fund baby, could be facing the death penalty.  Yet, the biggest question is where all his money will go.

Durst grew up in a family that effectively built modern midtown Manhattan and most recently partnered in the new $3 billion World Trade Center.  Durst inherited $65 million to which he invested in his own properties and are now likely worth $100 million.  Yet, Durst soon became involved in multiple death and disappearances over the years.  The first person to vanish was Durst’s wife in the early 1980s.  Then, in 2000, a friend was shot in her home.  A year later, Texas cops found a dead neighbor’s driver’s license in Durst’s car.  Durst admitted to killing the man, but only served time for jumping bail and parole.

Regardless whether or not Durst goes to prison, he would still be entitled to trust distributions.  A trust officer might need to make mandatory payments into a convicted beneficiary’s prison account simply because it is the only place the money can go.  As long as the money is not otherwise subject to outright confiscation for being earned directly through criminal activities, it theoretically adds up until parole or the remaining cash gets passed down to heirs.  But fortunately for family members, Durst was cut out of the family trust by the Durst Organization when he got out of jail in 2006.

See Scott Martin, JINX: Can Robert Durst Lose His $100 Million Inheritance? The Trust Advisor, March 22, 2015.