The first thing that I would note, in dealing with the estate is that there are methods to shield inheritance from taxes and to keep the inheritance out of the "estate." Regular life insurance is an example. These methods would also not show up on his financial disclosure statements.
Now, in all fairness, nobody familiar with RFG's finances has ever suggested that he used any of these options.
Respectfully, J.J and I have copies of RFG's records and have gone over them many times. Other than the pension, there is nothing in the records other than a joint bank account and the possibility of an insurance police and/or a simple will. RFG's daughter had the court seal the tax records (a minor curiosity to me), so we have no visibility of any inheritance planning. I have a copy of the petition to seal the tax records at RFG's daughters request.
From what we can assume based on what records I was able to obtain, there is no "obvious" planning for retirement or for inheritance.
We know what RFG's publicly stated plans were.
1. He would retire.
2. He would not practice law, i.e. he would rely on this pension.
3. His pension would be relatively generous (though unlikely to increase with inflation). My guess would be around $120 K.
4. He would retire at 60, which would mean that he could expect any Social Security for about 7 years.
5. We know that he was living with his girlfriend, who was working, and planned to stop working when he did. Because of that, his
household income would drop.
We would
expect anyone in that situation to save up some money for retirement. Some extra money for a trip, or for expenses, e.g. car repairs, a new dryer, or a new computer (those were mine in the last 4 months). He might also have house repairs. That appears
not to have happened.
Now, what the explanations:
1. He had moved money offshore, without creating a record. That could create problems accessing it from the US, if the goal was to hide it.
2. He had moved money into estate planning instruments. He could not spend it in retirement.
3. He spent it on his loved ones, bought things for his SO and for his daughter. Again, RFG could not spend it.
4. He made some bad investments and lost it.
Possibilities 2, 3, and 4 are consistent with suicide. Possibility 1 is consistent with walkaway alone. Possibilities 2 and 3 are consistent with both walkaway and suicide, especially in combination with #1.
None of this is consistent with a guy who is about to retire and facing a loss of household income.
Even with all that said, someone could be hiding money offshore, and still be murdered. Someone could be doing estate planning and still be murdered. Someone could be spending generously on loved ones, and still be murdered. Someone could make bad investments and still be murdered.
There is a difference.
