As an estate planning attorney who prepares living trusts, administers many estates and probates approximately 50 estates a year throughout California, I am always on the lookout for interesting stories to write about.  Recently the British newspaper ran the story of a Jane Ritchie who inherited over $15 million dollars – and gave it away.

Ms. Ritchie is a single 59 year old who inherited the money from a distant cousin.  She had to pay approximately $5.7 million in taxes.  Her major expenses were purchasing a new hat for a wedding that she was attending and treating herself to a stay at a nice hotel for the event.

Ms. Ritchie knew that her cousin had some money, but was surprised at the amount.  The solicitor (an English attorney) visited her at her house and told her the amount.  The Daily Mail quotes her as saying “I nearly fell off my chair.”

Ms. Ritchie made some charitable gifts and then took the bulk of her inheritance, approximately $8.5 million dollars and decided to build a job related learning center which will allow teenagers to gain an understanding of how what they learned in school relates to jobs in the real world.

Ms. Ritchie explained to the Daily Mail her generosity this way: “I’ve got everything I want.  I’ve got a nice house with two dogs and two cats.  I’m the wrong shape for fancy clothes.  I don’t drink and I don’t smoke and I don’t take holidays because I’m too busy.  I am very happy as I am.” 

She also said: “I believe if you do get something like winning the lottery you should do something good with it and that’s what I have tried to do.”

Her story certainly got me to stop and think.  As someone who prepares estate plans including living trusts for a living, I always am happy when a client indicates they want to leave something to charity.