Madoff's sons' estates settle with bankruptcy trustee

Sometimes when things go wrong, they go VERY wrong. This was the case with Bernie Madoff, whose investment Ponzi scheme was exposed in 2008. He declared bankruptcy and the trustee in bankruptcy has been actively trying to recover as much as possible of the 17.5 billion dollars Madoff owed his clients.

Both of Madoff's sons have died since 2008. One committed suicide and the other died of cancer. Both of them worked with their father as his investment firm and both amassed large personal fortunes while working there. Both of them denied that they knew about their father's illegal practices. The trustee in bankruptcy has been pursuing their estates for the last eight years in an attempt to recover some funds. He has finally been successful, as a settlement has now been reached with the two estates. Click here to read more about this story.

Although it isn't clear exactly how much money was recovered from the sons' estates, the total amount now collected by the trustee in bankruptcy is 11.5 billion. (Don't feel too badly for the sons' families who had to give back the dough; each family got to keep about two million dollars.) There is still ongoing litigation against Madoff's widow.

Not only did Madoff's actions ensure that his own estate is empty, but he caused years of litigation against his sons' estates as well. I wonder if he ever suspected that his actions would be so far-reaching. Usually when I talk about estate horror stories like this one, I point out ways that better planning could have helped the situation. In this case, however, a great will wouldn't be enough. No amount of estate planning is going to make up for truly horrendous decision-making during your lifetime.