DING, DING, DING, we have a winner.
He died at the wrong time. Had he died when the Estate Tax went to Zero ( I believe in 2010 ), his heirs and family might have escaped the Estate Tax ( AKA DEATH TAX ).
George Steinbrenner, the billionaire and long-time New York Yankees owner, avoided the federal estate tax, by dying at the right time.
I’m not even sure if NJ has a death Tax ( neighboring NY has ).
I believe it’s possible to arrange your affairs to escape this though... I hope he did.
He was a big lib so how could he be anything but happy to have a large chunk of his estate go to a Democratic governmental black whole instead of his family?
He voted for it.
I know several people with a sizeable fortune and they have life insurance to pay estate taxes upon death.