Taxation & Estate Planning

Milwaukee's Best: Captain Frederick Pabst's Letter

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

My family and I just returned from a mini-Spring Break trip to Milwaukee. (Yes, I know -- Spring Break in Milwaukee? But it was great.) One of the attractions we visited was the mansion of beer baron Captain Frederick Pabst. The mansion is being restored (beautifully), but one thing that caught my attention was a letter that Captain Pabst wrote to his children. The letter, which can be found here, is similar to the letter I suggested writing in this post.

The letter, which can be found here, begins as follows:

"My dear Children!

I place these few lines in the Package containing my last Will and address them to you...."

The letter goes on with some general advice, but focuses on the fact that Captain Pabst expected his children to work together to take of their mother and each other, with the Captain's last wish being...

"that you each, and all, do all you can, to promote each others happiness & welfare through life, no Matter what changes may come, or how one may be favored, or another be frowned upon by the fortunes of the World."

I have a lot of cases involving fighting siblings. I wonder if a letter like this from mom or dad would help?

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on March 29, 2010 (boomark / email).