EFTA02647458.pdf

From: Noam Chomsky < Sent: Saturday, July 7, 2018 9:43 PM To: Jeffrey E. Cc: Valeria Chomsky Subject: Fwd: Marital Trusts Proposed lette= to Max, as just explained. What do you think? Before responding to your letter in f=ll, I would like to clarify a few matters. Interspersed below. =div> Noam Forwarded message From: Max Kohlenberg < >> Date: Sat, Jul 7, 2018 at 4:43 AM Subject: Marital Trusts To <=r> Noam —au> Thank you for your reply.=C24, As you indicate that you are not being represented by counsel I will=reply directly to you, with a copy to Rich (as you suggest). Please consider: =span>1. =C240 As a starting point,=let me note that I think you and Rich may have misunderstood (at least ini=ially) the terms of the settlement that Harry proposed through his attorney. Rich and I discussed this in a call about 10 d=ys ago and I'm hoping that misunderstanding has been cleared up, b=t as I'm not a party to your exchanges (and Rich's exchang=s) with Harry's attorney I can't be sure. I'= also not certain whether the terms of the proposed settlement have changed. All I can=say for sure is that characterizing the offer as one in which distribution= to you cannot exceed $100K per year is not consistent with my understandi=g of what has been offered. The reason why the proposal is too outrageous t= discuss has nothing to do with the technicalities of the handout that Har=y is graciously offering. I'll review the background, once again= As I've discussed before, the Marital Trust was established=in Carol's name for tax purposes. The obvious intention, clearly=understood by Carol and me, and of course Eric Menouya, was that it would =e available to the survivor -- Carol we assumed -- and then what remains w=uld go to the beneficiaries. The idea that we intended that Carol wo=ld control EFTA_R1_01885419 EFTA02647458 "her" funds and I would control "mine" is t=o ludicrous to discuss, though I understand the legalistic conjuring that =an be adduced to reach this conclusion. When I appointed H=rry to replace me as trustee, I took for granted that he would handle the =rust as I had. His behavior since, and this latest proposal, make it=very clear how wrong that assumption was. This proposal calls for hi= to be in complete charge, which means, as he has shown, that I can only p=ead for some funds by accepting conditions that he knows I will not accept= You recall, I presume, that this was true even when I faced an enor=ous tax bill because my IRA was being depleted for the benefit of the fami=y. To refresh your memory, let me repeat again what was happenin= with my IRA until I learned about it. There is a mandatory withdraw=l. Half was being distributed to family. The other half was be=ng used for taxes and management fees for the entire estate. In orde= to pay Alex's medical expenses, and to pay $50,000 a year for rent an= upkeep on the house in Wellfleet that we had given to the children and th=t I was barely using, I had to withdraw extra funds from the IRA, with the=onerous tax burden. The same when I withdrew something to live on.=C24, Under these circumstances, Harry refused to release funds from the T=ust for tax relief without onerous and humiliating conditions that he knew=l would not accept. Easy to predict what might happen under less ext=eme conditions. For such reasons, Harry's proposal is,=as I said, too outrageous to discuss. 2.=C24> As you know, Harry's attorney has comm=nced a legal action that is intended to facilitate my resignation and the =ppointment of a successor trustee to take my place. Since you've wanted me removed for some ti=e and since I've said (from the first time you and I met) that I o=ly wanted to serve as trustee if all the family members wanted me to serve= I'm looking forward to resigning as soon as the court determines how I am to do so and how my successor is to be selected. =C24, =span>3. =C2* Given that my replac=ment is impending, it might be worth waiting until my successor is in plac= before responding to my requests for financial disclosure, as it's possible that my successor won't share my views as=to what the trustee of the trusts needs to know before making decisions ab=ut distributions. Likewise, if my successor will be identified soon =t might make sense for me to hold off on any distributions and leave it to the new trustee to work with you on figuring all of this o=t. In this regard I'm kind of a "lame duck" =rustee, wouldn't you say? 4. =C240 To the extent that you want to push forward wh=le I remain the trustee, let me again state the basis for financial disclo=ure by you. It is that, as trustee, I owe a duty to you and I owe a duty to your children (as the =emainder beneficiaries of the trusts). For the present my primary du=y is to you and it is to distribute to you all income earned by the trusts= net of expenses, =/span> Until I asked about the matter recently, I am aware of no in=ome distributed to me earned from the trusts. I cannot be sure, beca=se I also do not recall having received any accounting of what is happenin= to the trusts, including distributions from them to others (or as require=, to me). Could you then please send me the records on these matters= and to distribute to you (or pay on your behalf) additional monies as reasonably needed t= the extent that your income from other sources is not sufficient to suppo=t your reasonable expenses. 2 EFTA_R1_01885420 EFTA02647459 apan style="font-size:11ptfont-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73=125)"> Notwithstanding=your statement that "As for the claim about concern for my later year=, that has been thoroughly refuted" it has not been refuted in the context of my trusteeship and it remains my=duty to consider distributions in light of the possibility that you will h=ve a reasonable need for distributions from the trust for many more years,=and perhaps in increasing amounts, depending on your circumstances in the future. I am approaching =0. I'm not going to live forever. You know how much money =s in the trust. How could there possibly be a concern about it being=depleted? You know my lifestyle very well. Perhaps you recall =he meeting in my office when you explained to me that I was going to have =o cut back on expenses, specifically to sell my boat, as I did. None=of this makes any sense. =span>5. =C24) As for the specifics=of disclosure, what I need to consider is (a) what your income was in 2017= since that was the basis for the tax payments you seek to have reimbursed, (b) what your income is likely to be this year an= going forward, (c) what your expenses were in 2017 and are likely to be i= 2018, and (d) whether any of your income (or other resources) are being u=ed for purposes that the trust cannot support (such as gifts to third parties). 4>=A0So far, Rich has provided me with some rough information about your 2017=expenses. There are some gaps in that information, but nothing that =an't be cleared up pretty easily (I think). Rich has also as=ured me that you have not made any gifts that have diminished your resources an= I assume you would confirm that to me. What I don't have at this point is enough informat=on about your income, so that I can consider what the gap is between your =xpenses and your income, which is the gap the trusts might help to close u=. With respect to your income in 2017, all I can see is that your income tax obligations seem to be much higher than they were pre=iously. I'm assuming that reflects a jump in income from (i)=the profit made on the sale of the condominium, and (ii) large withdrawals=from your IRA. If you want to provide me with more information (bearing in mind what I noted in item #3, above) then inf=rmation about your 2017 income and what your income is likely to be this y=ar is what I most need. There is a very simple reason for the income tax o=ligations. The depletion of the IRA that I reviewed again above impo=ed a huge tax burden, which we were still attempting to deal with in 2017.=C24> After Harry's refusal to release some funds from the trust to pa= the exorbitant taxes resulting from what was happening, I of course had t= withdraw funds from the IRA to pay taxes on the whole estate, incurring a=new exorbitant tax burden. Despite some small relief later from the =rust after I had repeatedly pointed this out, it carried over through the =017 tax bill. So for that reason, taxes were extremely high. T=at curious episode is at last finally over, leaving many questions unresol=ed about what was happening while I was paying little attention, relying o= advisers to ensure that matters were proceeding appropriately.=/font> =C240 I hope this is helpful an= will wait to hear more from you and/or Rich. Max<=p> 3 EFTA_R1_01885421 EFTA02647460 A. Max Kohlenberg<=> Howland Evangelista Kohle=berg Burnett, LLP One Financial Plaza 40=804k Suite 1600 Providence, Rhode Island =2903 This email and any attach=ents thereto are intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein an= may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are hereby notifi=d that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email, and any a=tachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this=email in error, please immediately notify me by return email and permanently delete the original and any copy of thit message or attachment. Thank you. From: Noam Cho=sky Imailto:nchom=ky3@gmail.com <mailto > Sent: Friday, July 06, 2018 8:53 PM To: Max Kohlenberg Subject: Re: Marital Trust I am not represented=on this issue, so you can send the information to me directly, copying Ric=ard Kahn. 4 EFTA_R1_01885422 EFTA02647461 Noam On Fri, Jul 6, 2018 at 4:24 AM, Max Kohlenberg «= href="mailto:MKohlenberg@hekblaw.com" target="_blank">MKohlenberg@hek=law.com> wrote: Noam —<=u> Thanks for your message a=d your inquiry. I would like to reply in some detail, but before I d= so please tell me whether you are now represented by legal counsel. =f you are then I believe I'm obliged to copy your counsel on our e=changes. I would also plan on copying Rich Kahn, since my last commu=ications about distributions to you from the trusts have been with him. </=> Please also bear in mind =hat since (according to Rich) you are preparing to bring a legal action against me, I have been in contact with my firm's malpractice insu=ance carrier. As my exchanges with you may also need to be reviewed =ith our carrier that may delay (and/or limit) my responses.<=> </=> Max<=p> </=> </=> A. Max Kohlenberg<=> Howland Evangelista Kohle=berg Burnett, LLP One Financial Plaza Q=804> Suite 1600 Providence, Rhode Island =2903 Direct: 401.283.123= Main: 401.283.1234<=span> Fax: 401.283.1221</=pan> mkohlenberg@hekblaw.com <mailto:mkohlen=erg@hekblaw.com> </=> www.hekblaw.com <http://www.hek=law.com/> <A> </a 5 EFTA_R1_01885423 EFTA02647462 This email and any attach=ents thereto are intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. =f you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are hereby notifie= that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email, and any at=achments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please immediately notify me by return email and permanently delete the original and any copy of this messa=e or attachment. Thank you. </=> From: Noam Cho=sky (mailto:nchom=ky3@gmail.com <mailto > Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2018 7:53 PM To: Max Kohlenberg Subject: Marital Trust Max,=u> I presume it is clear that the rec=nt proposal transmitted by Harry's lawyer that I should be satisfi=d with a handout of 100k a year from the Marital Trust is too disgraceful for comment. I would like to know what further information you require for reimbursement for tax payment. We have previously transmitted a great deal of financial information in order for you to reimbu=se our taxes, including proof of payment and more. Exactly what more do you require, and with what justi=ication? We see little reason that you cannot act on the information=already provided. As for the claim about concern for my later =ears, that has been thoroughly refuted. Noam 6 EFTA_R1_01885424 EFTA02647463