“At least three companies — AssetLock.net, Legacy Locker, and the charmingly named Deathswitch.com — have arisen to keep customers’ passwords, usernames, final messages, and so on in a virtual safe-deposit box. After you’re gone, these companies carry out last wishes, alert friends, give account access to various designated beneficiaries, and generally parse out and pass on your online assets.” Check out more here.

They may have the help of Rudolf M. Elmer, a whistle blower who has been posting the internal documentation of Swiss bank Julius Baer to wikileaks.org. The banks are accused of taking billions of dollars in accounts and secreting the unreported money in the Caribbean and Switzerland. Elmer’s insider knowledge is sought by investigators as they try to unravel the schemes that could lead to potential criminal and civil penalties. He has so far disclosed his documentation to the IRS, a Senate subcommittee investigating tax evasion and a Manhattan district attorney. The documentation covers trusts, companies and hedge funds, and allegedly includes Rancho Santa Fe resident Jonathan Lampitt of Jupiter Investment Groups. Elmer joins fellow whistle-blowers Bradley Birkenfeld and Heinrich Kieber. As the government plays catch-up, more information will likely become known.

The tax savings to Wal-Mart are likely in the billions of dollars, even though the loophole was long ago closed at the federal level. Several states are now challenging this structure in court, and more are likely to follow. The full article can be viewed here, and a Wal-Mart watchdog has compiled a list of tax avoidance schemes by Wal-Mart with updates on how states are counteracting them.

1. Get a good lawyer. I would add that your lawyer should concentrate exclusively in this area.
2. Pick the right executor and trustees. The right trustee will be solid and will react neutrally to avoid disputes over the estate’s property.
3. Talk about it now. This seems obvious, but most people will not let their intentions be known ahead of time. Unfair surprise is one surefire way to start a contest.
4. Know state laws. In California, as the Tax Professor adds, probate can be avoided entirely through the use of a trust.
5. Make your intentions known early and often. Making repeated modifications to the will or trust will make it harder to invalidate later.
6. Make sure title to your assets is clear. Circumventing the estate distribution by retitling assets later in life is another way to encourage litigation.
7. Consider including a “no contest” clause. Then give the beneficiary an amount that they would rather not sacrifice if they lost the contest.
8. Don’t try to manage your estate from the grave. Although I am not sure that I entirely agree with this one, in theory giving discretion to your beneficiaries may stop them from fighting over items to which they are personally attached. I agree that not every item need be listed in the instrument, but sometimes a person who writes a will or trust can avoid disputes ahead of time by simply making the right decision.

It is generally not a smart idea to give an 18 year old $10 million in one lump sum. That distribution could have been staggered for the rest of the child’s life to prevent misspending. Finally, because he did not have a trust in place, the entire probate of his estate will be subject to publicity through the media – and now all sorts of unsavory characters have access to the fact that those children will be receiving vast sums of money – which is disconcerting to say the least. Check out this blog’s breakdown of the unfortunate mistakes made in the McNair estate. Contact a San Diego estate planning attorney today to make a responsible step in the right direction for your family.

The link at the end of this paragraph gives ten examples of odd bequests that may or may not be enforceable in a court of law – but are entertaining nonetheless. Consider the man who preconditioned his wife’s receipt of £330,000 by devising that she could only receive it if she smoked 5 cigars a day (she refused to allow him to smoke). Or the woman who gave her husband $2.00 provided he spend half the money on rope to hang himself. Check out the full list here.