Episode summary
Celebrity Estates: The Murdoch Family Trust and Irrevocable Planning with Mark Parthemer
Summary
The conversation uses the Murdoch family trust dispute to explain why irrevocable trusts can still sometimes be changed, but only through narrow pathways such as decanting, settlement agreements, or judicial modification. Mark Parthemer argues that the real issue is not whether an irrevocable trust is “permanent,” but whether the document was built to handle changing family dynamics, business realities, and future conflicts.
Parthemer says the Murdoch plan became problematic because it fused economic interests and voting control inside a single structure, even though only one child was actively involved in the business. He argues that equal treatment is not always fair, and that planners should think carefully about separating ownership value from control rights when some beneficiaries are operators and others are not. He also distinguishes family governance from legal control: mission statements and family meetings may help, but they do not override trust terms.
The episode also emphasizes privacy and flexibility. Parthemer says revocable trusts can also support privacy, and that clients should deliberately choose between a truly permanent structure and one with built-in escape valves like trust protectors or decanting powers. His main point is that estate plans go stale when families change, so advisers should draft for adaptation, not just for the moment of signing.
Key takeaways
- Mark Parthemer says irrevocable trusts can sometimes be modified, but changing preferences alone almost never justifies it.
- He argues the Murdoch trust was flawed because it combined equal economics and equal control even though not all beneficiaries were involved in the business.
- Parthemer says family governance is useful, but trust terms—not family meetings or mission statements—control legal outcomes.
- He says advisers should either choose permanence or build in flexibility through trust protectors, decanting powers, or similar tools.
- He notes that privacy is a benefit of trusts generally, and a revocable trust can often provide privacy without using an irrevocable structure.
Notable quotes
“there may be a door to change an irrevocable trust but it's a really heavy door”
“Equal isn't always fair. isn't always equal”
“family governance is really important, but family governance is not the same as legal control”
“you have to pick one or the other”
“Can you change it just because you changed your mind? You changed your preferences about who or how is to benefit almost never”
How the episode opens
Welcome to the Celebrity Estates Wills of the Rich and Famous podcast. In this podcast, we break down high-profile celebrity estate planning cases for advisers and their clients. Most celebrity estate catastrophes are based on the same issues that everyday people face, just with the volume turned up.
Our goal is to identify and extract the individual estate planning issues that lie at the heart of each story. We then discuss what advisers should expect and how to avoid common pitfalls. Hosted by wealthmanagement.com senior editor David Leno.
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest episode of wealthmanagement.com celebrity estates wills of the rich and famous. For anyone new to the podcast in each installment myself and a guest take on a different celebrity estate and attempt to extract some key lessons that planners can apply to more traditional clients. The idea being that celebrity estate planning stories, although often ridiculous in their details, generally have at their cores very basic issues that could just as easily apply to non-famous or fabulously wealthy clients.
To learn more about estate planning and how you can better serve your clients, visit wealthmanagement.com/trusts-states. Our monthly journal features tax law updates, wealth planning, retirement planning, and much more written by thought leaders in the industry. That's wealthmanagement.com/trusts-estates.
We're joined today by Mark Parimemer. Mark is chief wealth strategist and Florida regional director at Glenme. He is responsible for developing and communicating Glenme's position and strategy concerning tax estate planning and fiduciary matters pertinent to clients and their adviserss as well as cultivating the growth and operations of Glenme throughout Florida.
Prior to joining Glenme, Mark served as managing director for TIAA and managing director and senior fiduciary council for Bessemer Trust, working with ultra high netw worth clients to deliver sophisticated tax and estate planning advice and provide tailored guidance.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- irrevocable trust modification
- family governance vs legal control
- trust protectors and decanting powers
- estate plans becoming outdated
- estate privacy and revocable trusts
Companies and tickers mentioned
- TFC
- Glenmede Trust Company
- TIAA
- Bessemer Trust
- Duane Morris, LLP
- PricewaterhouseCoopers
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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