Russelll Buchan, Living like a King at his 40th Reunion. The girls knew Russell was rich, but didn't know why.
When these websites were first published, it spoke of how Russell Buchan acquired his parent’s $ 3,500,000 estate. This value was determined from the recognized value of the estate inventory as reported in the estate of Charles Buchan, the husband of Amelia Buchan. Charles Buchan passed away in April, 1994 and consisted primarily of commercial and investment property that was jointly owned by Charles and Amelia Buchan. The estate of Amelia Buchan is actually valued much higher.
At the time, the family estate passed directly to our mother, Amelia Buchan. The real estate was not appraised, but the tax assessed values of the 1993 ad valorum tax bills were used. These same values were used in Amelia Buchan’s estate inventory in 2001. It is generally accepted that tax assessments due not reflect true market values. They did not in this estate, particularly when they were eight years old in a rising real estate market.
One parcel of investment property, nine acres of vacant land appears on the estate inventory for $ 400,000 and was sold by Russell Buchan to the city of Pinellas Park, Florida for $ 2,800,000. (The city of Pinellas Park assessed the tax value to the property, and then paid seven times over that value to purchase the property. Your tax dollars at work!)
The value of the coin collection appeared in estate inventory at $ 44,000. Russell Buchan, himself, stated when the appraisal was being conducted that he knew father’s coin collection was valued in excess of $ 500,000. Other coin collectors who I spoke with after our mother’s death who knew our father also said it was worth at least a “half of million or more”.
Russell Buchan had access to our mother’s safe deposit boxes. Russell told me he inspected our mother’s safe deposit boxes and said, “They were what you would expect of a little old widowed Italian wife, stuffed with cash”. Russell Buchan prepared the estate inventory and none of the contents of the safe deposit boxes appeared on the estate inventory.
Just making adjustments for the Pinellas Park land purchase, a reasonable estimate of the coin collection and cash in the safe deposit boxes, the estate value increases to over $ 6,000,000. There were many more land parcels that appeared under valued because market value appraisals were not made.
What does all this mean?
Since these websites first appeared, many have contacted me with stories, references, court cases, news articles, websites and blogs all discussing the plight of family estates caused by Probate Predators. A diligent search of GOOGLE, YAHOO and Law Journals has resulted in this fact:
RUSSELL BUCHAN IS KING OF THE PROBATE PREDATORS!
WHEEEEEE! Russell Buchan now has a claim to fame! By planning and carrying out his Mother’s killing, and then rushing to the Courts to claim total possession of Amelia Buchan’s estate it appears Russell Buchan has taken possession of an single estate larger than any other dubious family relative, guardian or attorney as previously reported on the Internet.
Even King of the Probate Predators must pay tax.
Of course the hens will come home to roost. When you understate the Probate inventory to save on estate taxes; you will have to pay additional capital gains tax when you sell the estate property. There is a tax savings because the capital gains tax is less than the estate tax brackets and if you are a probate predator and an alleged killer, I guess fudging on estate tax is considered no big deal.
The land sale to the City of Pinellas Park occurred in early 2007. The probate inventory listed the property at $ 400,000. It was sold for $ 2,800,000 realizing a capital gain of $ 2,400,000. I assume Russell Buchan paid the $ 360,000 capital gains taxes on the $ 2,400,000 capital gain when he filed his 2007 Federal Income Tax return. If he forgot, this is his reminder. This reminder is also being sent to the examination division of the Internal Revenue Service together with pertinent estate documents and copies of the sales agreement.
Gee, I hope he deposited the $ 360,000 capital gains tax in the calendar quarter when the sale occurred, so he does not have to pay the underpayment penalty. That penalty could be an additional $ 28,000 if he forgot to pay it before the April 15, 2007 deadline. If he did forget, The Internal Revenue Service will send him a bill when they exam his return.
