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Monday, January 8, 2018

A unique way to avoid an obscenity, the inheritance tax

This is not a results of Obergefell v. Hodges, but it's still funny. When that abortion of constitutional law came out, two things crossed my mind:

1. Who is the man in the divorce? Which one of the two people looses the house, the kids, the money, etc.?

2. You know there were thousands of lawyers out there screaming, "Cha Ching!" More business for them.

But now we have two straight Irish gentlemen getting married to avoid inheritance taxes.
Two straight men marry to avoid paying inheritance tax on property

Best friends Matt Murphy and Michael O’Sullivan are both heterosexual. O’Sullivan, 58, is also the carer of Murphy, 83.

In lieu of paying O’Sullivan for his time in caring for his friend, they agreed Murphy would leave him his house after he passed away.

But after finding out how they would have to pay €50,000 (£44,300 $59,300) worth of inheritance tax if Murphy just left it in the will, they decided to marry to bypass the fee...

...O’Sullivan told the Irish Mirror: ‘Eventually, Matt said the only way he could pay me was to leave me the house.

‘I told him that it was a great idea but that I would have to sell the house as I would have to pay inheritance tax, massive tax,’ he said.

Then he was chatting to a friend at a local pub in Cashel, County Tipperary, and she jokingly said they should get married.

So O’Sullivan popped the question one night.

The couple married at the Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital Registry Office in Dublin.

They walked down the aisle to a harpist serenading the couple and 11 witnesses watched on.

O’Sullivan said he checked with the police, revenue commissioners and a former attorney general who confirmed everything was legal...

This case involves two items I find obscene. One, Obergefell v. Hodges. Yes, I know this doesn't refer to outside the USA, but the Constitution does not cover marriage. That is something to be handled by the states. And the other is inheritance taxes. You spend your entire life working and building your wealth, paying taxes all during this time. When you pass, how that is handled is your business only. I don't care if your estate is worth one billion dollars or one dollar.

Mr. Murphy and Mr. O’Sullivan, may I congratulate you two, and wish you a happy life together. And hopefully there are bureaucrats in the Irish Finance Ministry screaming at this!

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