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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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Closing the Gaps in Asset Protection
A Fair Approach to an Unfair-Looking Will
This Chihuahua Just Became Everyone’s Favorite Hero
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Cider-Braised Chicken
Digging Into History’s Most Puzzling Disappearance The Cat Who Had Everything Except an Inheritance
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A CELEBRITY CAT, A TANGLED ESTATE, AND A LESSON WORTH HEEDING What Choupette’s Missing Millions Can Teach Us
If there was ever a cat living her best life, it was Choupette. The beloved Birman of fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld traveled by private jet and dined from fine china. She also had not one but two personal maids attending to her around the clock, one for the day and one for the night. Those maids were even tasked with keeping handwritten daily journals of her every move so that Lagerfeld could read them later. He called Choupette “the center of the world,” and obviously meant it.
Lagerfeld passed away in 2019, and more than seven years later, not a single named beneficiary has received anything from his estate, which is estimated at somewhere around $200 million. The reasons for his estate issues are stacking up. French tax authorities have demanded approximately $45 million in back taxes. A mystery plaintiff has since emerged to challenge the claim that Lagerfeld was of sound mind when he signed his will, which could leave the estate to family members he’d cut out of his life decades earlier. Meanwhile, Caçote has had to hire lawyers at her own expense to pursue the claim. The lesson here has little to do with cats or couture. It’s about what happens when a person’s intentions meet unexpected legal and tax realities without a solid plan in place. Lagerfeld’s estate is extreme, but the fault lines that split it open, including steep tax exposure and a contested will, aren’t exclusive to the ultra-wealthy.
He also meant it when he promised she’d be taken care of after his death. Since French law doesn’t allow animals to inherit, Lagerfeld arranged for funds to pass to his
former housekeeper, Françoise Caçote, who would use them for Choupette’s care. That part was straightforward, and the rest of the story … hasn’t been.
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