Posted on 11/15/2011 7:31:02 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Joe Paterno transferred full ownership of his house to his wife, Sue, for $1 in July, less than four months before a sexual abuse scandal engulfed his Penn State football program and the university.
Documents filed in Centre County, Pa., show that on July 21, Paterno’s house near campus was turned over to “Suzanne P. Paterno, trustee” for a dollar plus “love and affection.” The couple had previously held joint ownership of the house, which they bought in 1969 for $58,000.
According to documents filed with the county, the house’s fair-market value was listed at $594,484.40.
Wick Sollers, a lawyer for Paterno, said in an e-mail that the Paternos had been engaged in a “multiyear estate planning program,” and the transfer “was simply one element of that plan.”
He said it had nothing to do with the scandal.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Scum, scam , guilty, ...She knew...
“.....the house’s fair-market value was listed at $594,484.40.”
Wow... for that little cracker box near the road and right next to a public sidewalk. Give me a break!!
My house must have a FMV of $1.5m.... maybe more.
location, location, location has a lot to do with how much that crackerbox is worth. often it’s the land rather than the crackerbox which has become so pricey.
until the cloud of scandal has dissipated, though, just about everything involving the paternos is going to look fishy.
Trying to protect his assets in advance of the lawsuits.
Good idea, keep it away from the scheister-weasel lawyers that will descend like buzzards
With simple inflation, $58k is $341k today.
Oh, nonsense. Sounds like ordinary estate planning to me. Setting up a living trust... Moving assets around... Sheesh... The guy is ~old~. This is the time to be doing that.
Smart move - even better would be to place it inside a New Mexico LLC...
Seems mighty strange.
Agreed. About 30 years late.
Strange indeed. Especially when you consider that Sue Paterno has been in frail health of late. I wondered if he might not outlive her.
They knew this was coming, of course.
I hear he will have a half million dollar a year pension.
Wow, poor old public servant will be able to buy a big house every year. lol.
Brilliant move. He is 84 and needs to have his affairs in order. He probably should have done this 10 years ago but at least he got it done. I recommend all FREEPERS do this at some point especially if you are a lot older then your spouse.
This is pure speculation, but perhaps that is true, and there is some evidence of dementia which has been noticed by his family or doctor. In that case, doing things like turning control of assets over to his wife makes perfect sense.
I'm not defending any wrongdoing at all, but pointing out that there are other possible reasons for this particular action.
Exactly. This is an 84 year old coaching college ball....how tough of a job was it to get him convinced that he SHOULD do some estate planning?!?!
I wonder how many SHOWERS are in that house.
I'm not that happy with certain things Paterno may have not done to likely in his mind "protect the program," but this may be exactly what his attorney says it is.
As an attorney, I can tell you that lot of people just don't do it period. There's nothing like intestate succession in a blended family. (shakes head) I know successful people in their 70's with no will.
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