A protracted legal battle over the $3 million estate of a late chairman of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners wound up before the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday. The only child of Eddie Elder, who died unexpectedly and without a will in 2004, has been embroiled with his widow, Eva Elder, in a legal battle that began three years after his death. Eva Elder currently serves on the BOC.
Susan Elder Crowe already has lost in every arena – in Barrow County Probate Court and twice in both Barrow County Superior Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals – but the state’s highest court in an unusual move agreed to hear the case.
The legal fight began in 2004 when Eva Elder petitioned the probate court for a widow’s year of support. That typically is a year’s allowance from an estate to support a widow and her minor children while a will is being probated.
But Elder’s petition was for the entire $3 million estate and Crowe reportedly went along with it to protect the estate from taxes.
Three years later, however, Crowe filed a motion asking the probate judge to set aside the award, alleging that her stepmother “had fraudulently induced her to go along with it by promising to divide the estate equally among Elder, Crowe and Crowe’s three sons,” according to a Supreme Court summary of the case.
For the full story, see the Jan. 11 issue of the Barrow Journal.
For instance, can you think of any other reasons why a child, no matter what age, should not be entrusted with a large estate?
In addition, Elder may be acting to the wishes of Mr. Elder. We don't know what he wanted. There may be reasons why he would not want his daughter entrusted with a bulk of his estate. But then it could also be the contrary.
Nonetheless, Crowe executed a legal document of some kind waiving her rights. There may have been a reason for that beyond any tax considerations.
I'm just speculating..but stay open-minded and you'll see that things are not always what they seem.
Do we REALLY want someone without morals to be a part of our county government?
The death tax should be abolished altogether. It's a socialistic leftist tool, pure & simple.
But, I will say this, if any of you had an opportunity to keep what your family had earned wouldnt you try and not pay taxes again on the money ? I bet most, if not all, would do what you could to keep as much money for yourself and not watch it be given to the government. I dont fault them for trying to keep what is theirs, unless they stole it
Has NO problem taking the food out of the County Property holder's mouth...
The BOC's vote was 4-2, with commissioners Larry Joe Wilburn and Isaiah Berry voting no.
http://www.barrowjournal.com/archives/5671-BOC-adopts-tentative-mill-rate-after-error-fixed-in-calculations.html
She is not keeping what is her's... More like taking what is NOT
You think it's okay to not pay taxes due even if you disagree with them?
If though there was no will, there are LEGAL, LEGIT ways to get around inheritance taxes.
This IS NOT THE KIND OF PERSON WE NEED SITTING ON THE BOC
Eddie worked at the office supply business for years. Stayed downtown when everybody else was bailing out. Of course he inherited some of Mr. Hill's estate to gain the wealth that he did but over the years he had farm land that belonged to his father and inherited that along with his brother. They made some decent financial decisions. That 3 million is not all in cash...most of it is in assets like land and other property. Probably not worth the 3 mill today due to the land values dropping so much...anyway, I wanted to defend Eddie and not his gold digging second wife. I hope the daughter gets her share of her fathers estate.
It's time to move on from the Elders, Yearwoods, and Wilburns to more capable people.