The heirs of James Jewett Stillman, head of the bank that grew into Citigroup Inc., are fighting to preserve Wethersfield, the country estate of what used to be one of America’s wealthiest families. Throughout the years, trustees entrusted to preserve the estate trifled away millions, causing a once safeguarded estate to run dangerously low. Consequently, artworks collected by Chauncey Devereux Stillman, the grandson of the family patriarch, are being sold in hopes of maintaining Wethersfield for the public good. Perhaps, it is easy to dismiss this story of affluent wealth squandered away by subsequent generations, but there is one valuable lesson: pick trustees and money mangers carefully. Dynastic families are potentially at risk due to the younger generations’ lack of education, training, and exposure in managing assets.
See Katya Kazakina, New York Banking Royalty’s Heirs Are Unloading Art to Save the Family Estate, Bloomberg, April 4, 2017.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
