Court: Survivors have to live with decisions made by people who don't want to spend much on a will

William Bruinsma lived quietly, never married, eventually moved into a subsidized housing project for the elderly. Nobody knew he'd built up an estate worth $1.7 million.

And that includes the lawyer who drafted a simple two-page will for him that gave half his property to his sister and a friend of his and the other half to the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Society. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that roughly $460,000 of his estate has to pay state and federal taxes because Bruinsma's will makes no provisions for creations of "charitable remainder annuity trusts" that would dramatically reduce the taxes.

The court said it was troubled Bruinsma's beneficiaries waited more than 10 years to file their request to "reform" his will and said they have to live with his decision to cheap out on the will to avoid getting kicked out of his subsidized apartment.

Although the decedent's charitable intent is demonstrated by his bequest of the remainder of his estate to the charitable beneficiaries, there is no expression in his will or elsewhere that he was concerned about the possible tax consequences associated with any of his bequests. Rather, based on the affidavits submitted, it appears that he was quite inclined to keep his estate planning simple and, thus, inexpensive, so that he could keep his own legal fees to a minimum. He also may not have wanted to disclose the value of his assets in order to retain his subsidized housing.

Complete ruling.