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DR. ATKINS TRUSTEES HAVE A BEEF WITH HIS WIDOW

April 30, 2007

While bunless burgers have disappeared from most menus, and most of the pounds lost on the Atkins diet have been replaced, litigation over diet guru Dr. Robert Atkins' estate is still going strong. Death and Taxes has the scoop.

After Dr. Atkins' death, his widow (Veronica) became very depressed. She also had a huge amount of money to deal with, and no bank or trust company acting as adviser. Instead, Ms. Atkins turned to three individuals she referred to as "The Three Musketeers" -- a "self-described entrepreneur" (yikes!), an accountant, and a lawyer. Mrs. Atkins had the three appointed as trustees of the marital trust created for her benefit, and officers of her husband's foundation. She also...

-agreed to pay each of the men $1.2 million per year, including some money out of her own pocket (since their salaries "exceeded statutory limits on trustee commissions");

-signed them to 10-year contracts with built-in extensions which the three now claim "made them employees for the rest of her life"; and

-allowed each of them to purchase a $5 million life insurance policy on her life, with themselves as beneficiaries.

Nice work if you can get it.

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