The Detroit Free Press article sites Karen Davidson, the late wife of Bill Davidson – NBA Detroit Pistons owner – as saying in an affidavit that her husband intended the foundation to be a single organization, with emphasis on family.
“It was meant to be a family foundation, the family structure of the foundation provides that family members will support one another in the philanthropic endeavors of the foundation,” her court filing says. “It is a way of keeping the family working together now and into the future on philanthropic matters. William Davidson specifically expressed this to me before he died.”
Read the whole story here.
Forget about the money for a moment… family disputes is the biggest lost in wealth transfer situations. There is no cost greater than this one.
Yet, so few give as much attention and due diligence to the family aspects of wealth transfer as they do to the financial and legal aspects of wealth transfer. The “system” has the pyramid of wealth planning priorities turned upside down in our heads, at least it seems this way when I read stories of the Davidson’s.
There are many more stories just like their story with far less wealth that do not make it to the pages of a major newspaper because they aren’t public figures. In fact, you can probably think of a family dispute over money right now… maybe it is even your own.
It doesn’t have to be this way! Family intentions don’t have to do misconstrued or misrepresented.
For it to be different, the same investments of time, money and energy need to be applied to the relational side of planning as gets applied to the financial and legal.
If you don’t have this, then contact a specialist to help. If you don’t know who to call, contact Wealth With No Regrets and we will direct you if we can’t help you.