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Picasso’s Sole Heir Continues to Sell Artwork

Picasso’s Sole Heir Continues to Sell Artwork

The great artist was also known for the many women he was involved with, but he only married two of them, says a recent article that asks “Who are Picasso’s heirs? Auction at Sotheby’s reignites dispute,” appearing in The Wealth Advisor. Officially, there is only one legitimate heir to Picasso’s vast estate, but that wasn’t settled until after his death.

Picasso’s first child was Paulo, born to Olga Khokhlova, a famous Russian dancer. They wed in 1918, during World War I. Paulo would have been an heir, but he died in 1975. Picasso fathered other children outside of wedlock, including Paloma in 1940, Claude in 1947, and Maya in 1935. Only after their father’s death and legal battles, were Picasso’s grandchildren recognized as rightful heirs to part of his inheritance.

Long-standing disputes between Picasso’s second wife, Jaqueline Roque, and the children from his previous lovers went from slow simmer to boil after his death in 1973. Picasso had married Roque in 1961, after Khokhlova had died. He was 80 and had never divided his estate or did any estate planning. He left an enormous empire—villas, artwork and other possessions—with no plan and no will.

After his death, a famous Parisian auctioneer was commissioned to log all of his artwork, creating a list for the French government. The task took from 1974 to 1981.

The entire estate was estimated to be worth 3.75 billion francs, including $1.3 million in gold, $45 million in cash and a personal art collection valued at 1.4 billion francs. The collection included many pieces created by friends like Matisse, Miro and Cezanne.

One of the many problems he left for his heirs: an inheritance tax of several million francs on his property. To pay his taxes, 3,800 artworks became state property and instead of belonging to his heirs, they are now in the Picasso Museum in Paris. The museum has the largest collection of Picasso’s work. However, that might not have been his or his heirs’ intention.

Picasso’s granddaughter, the daughter of his eldest son Paolo and the only surviving relative by marriage, Marina Ruiz-Picasso, said that the state took a large selection of artwork, and the rest was raffled off to the individual heirs like a lottery.

She wrote a book about being his granddaughter, and it was not flattering. She said that his father’s work “demanded human sacrifices.” Needless to say, she had a difficult relationship with her famous grandfather. For many years, she left his artwork untouched in storage. However, in recent years, she has auctioned off many paintings and drawings, earning millions from the sales.

An online auction of more than 200 pieces, including drawings, paintings and gold medallions, took place in mid-June at Sotheby’s. Marina Ruiz-Picasso is one of the wealthiest women in Switzerland and lives in a villa on Lake Geneva.

Reference: The Wealth Advisor (June 16, 2020) “Who are Picasso’s heirs? Auction at Sotheby’s reignites dispute”

 

How Do the Children Divide Up Mom’s Tangible Property?

How Do the Children Divide Up Mom’s Tangible Property?

What should you do if you’ve been given the task to be in charge of divvying up a parent’s estate that includes assorted tangible items?

Minneapolis Tribune’s article entitled “A clever way to divvy up items after a parent’s death” says that some families do it, by taking turns selecting which items each will keep.

The article discusses how a family decided to divide things up their mom’s grand estate and how the method the family used to divvy up the tangible items could be one that other families with much smaller estates could use.

After their mom’s death at 93, the brother and sister co-executors created an inventory of 724 items in her estate that had monetary or sentimental value. These included things like furniture, artwork, oriental rugs, cutlery, china, a piano and a car. They didn’t include their mom’s jewelry, books or linens, or her silver, gold and collectible coins. The four siblings all agreed to sell the coins and to deal with the many books, linens, and jewelry more informally, after the more significant items had been distributed.

The family didn’t use the common way of disbursing tangible items of an estate, in which family members take turns choosing items. With over 700 items, that could take a while. They felt that system wouldn’t maximize the value received by the four children and seven grandchildren. Instead, their process for dividing the intangible items used the following steps:

  1. The inventory was given to all four siblings and asked each one to state the items that they were interested in. This divided the 724 items into three groups: (a) stuff in which no one had an interest; (b) stuff in which only one person had an interest; and (c) those in which two or more were interested. Things in which no one had an interest, were set aside to be sold or given away, and those who were the only siblings to want certain items got them.
  2. They then made lists of items in which more than one sibling expressed an interest. Each received a list of those items. They were not given information on ones in which they weren’t interested—one of two ways the system wasn’t transparent.
  3. Each person was then “given” 500 virtual poker chips that he or she could use to bid for contested items. However, prior to the bidding deadline, they could talk with one another about their intentions. The result was that many had bid for several similar items, like family pictures, bookcases and oriental rugs — when they really only wanted one from each category. Thus, they agreed among themselves who would receive each one, without wasting too many chips. This also avoided two siblings using a lot of tokens to bid for a particular item, and no one bidding on another similar one.
  4. After the bids were in, the co-executors announced the results, without revealing the bids, to avoid a silent auction where bidders can see what others are bidding and readjust their bids up to the deadline. This was the second part of the system that wasn’t transparent.
  5. Finally, when all the allocations were determined, the co-executors tabulated the monetary value of all the items and readjusted the estate monetary distributions to ensure that everyone came out at the same place financially. The most valuable items were a 1919 Steinway drawing room grand piano valued at $25,000; a 2005 Toyota Camry valued at $4,500; and some oriental rugs with a total value of $13,975. Those who got the big-ticket items had to pay their siblings something for them, with a total of $17,500 trading hands.

It was time-consuming and took several months, but the siblings thought that their system was very fair and the process, unlike what is done in some other family estates, relieved tensions and brought the siblings closer together.

Reference: Minneapolis Tribune (Feb. 25, 2020) “A clever way to divvy up items after a parent’s death”

 

 

 

What’s the Best Way to Select a Beneficiary for My 401(k)?
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What’s the Best Way to Select a Beneficiary for My 401(k)?

WTOP’s article “How to pick a beneficiary for your 401(k) plan” instructs us on how to make certain your 401(k) savings get to your intended heir.

  1. Name a Beneficiary. Designating a beneficiary of your retirement account lets that person receive your financial bequest without the need to access to your will, financial documents, or go through probate. In designating a beneficiary, carefully think about who that will be, just as you would for any other asset you intend to leave to your heirs.
  2. Name Contingent Beneficiaries. A contingent beneficiary will get the assets from the account in the event that all of the primary beneficiaries have died. Review your beneficiary designations at least annually to ensure each beneficiary, and their assigned percentage, is still appropriate.
  3. Update Your Named Beneficiaries After Significant Life Events. When you begin a job in your 20s, you might list your parents or siblings as the beneficiary of your account. However, when you marry, you may change your beneficiary to your spouse. If you want to leave your retirement account balance to your children, you must update your beneficiary form upon the birth of each child, or you might leave the youngest out, if you die unexpectedly.

Divorce or remarriage is another reason to change your beneficiary forms. If you remarry and don’t change your ex-spouse’s name from your most recent beneficiary document, your ex-spouse may get your remaining retirement assets.

Note that beneficiary forms are unique to each 401(k) plan. This means that if you have multiple 401(k) accounts with previous employers, you’ll have to update each one.

You can also consider combining old 401(k) accounts or rolling them over into an IRA to make your beneficiary designations and investments easier to manage.

Many 401(k) plans let you update your beneficiaries online.

  1. Inform Your Beneficiaries About Your Accounts. Your heirs may be required to get in touch with the financial institution to get their inheritance. Tell them where you have accounts, so they know what to expect and can claim your unused retirement funds. Be certain that everyone has the information. That way, there’s no question and access to those funds will be easy.

Reference: WTOP (June 8, 2020) “How to pick a beneficiary for your 401(k) plan”