Chapter 3 Estate Tax and Debt
"What comes from dust shall return to dust. May the love of the Lord be with you forever, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen..."
It can be said that the funeral of the Devonshire family shocked the entire British aristocratic circle. After all, within a few days, three direct members of the family passed away one after another. In such a large ducal family, only the youngest son who had just grown up was left. This thing has not happened in England for too many years - the last time this kind of memory can be traced back to the two world wars...
This time the funeral of the Cavendish family was also quite grand. Not only were many nobles present, but even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Wales came to Derbyshire in person to attend the funeral.
"Lord Barron, please have your condolences..."
This is also the first time in two lives that Barron has seen a celebrity of the level of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. However, now is not the time for him to get excited. What he has experienced in the past few days has made him calm about anything. .
"Your Highness, thank you very much for coming here..."
In fact, through this period of understanding, he also understood that the reason why His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales came in person may not be because of his current father, the 12th Duke of Devonshire, but because of his grandmother. ——The 11th Duchess of Devonshire.
Speaking of her predecessor, the grandmother was also an extremely famous person.
Her name was Deborah Cavendish. She was once one of the famous "Six Mitford Sisters" in the British upper class. She was born on March 31, 1920. She was the son of David Ford, 2nd Baron Ridsdale. Young daughter of Freeman Mitford and Sydney Freeman Mitford.
Her family had been ennobled since the Germanic Conquest (5th-6th century).
It can be said that throughout World War II, the "Six Mitford Sisters" with very different personalities and political leanings were one of the most well-known labels in the British aristocratic circle.
It was like the Prince of Wales stood for a long time in front of Deborah Cavendish's photo and said to Barron:
"She will be greatly missed and she is not someone who will be forgotten easily. The joy she gave everyone through those books and her contribution to Chatsworth will not be forgotten..."
…
After the funeral, all the guests left, and the entire Chatsworth estate returned to silence.
But the matter is not over yet, what Barron needs to face is an even more troublesome thing!
According to relevant British laws, as the second son of the family, it can be said that the burden of the family will not fall on him - his predecessor thought so since he was a child. As the eldest son, his brother will inherit the Duke of Devonshire. title, and the other party is stable and mature, and has been trained as the heir of the family for a long time. In everyone's opinion, he is also the most suitable successor.
As the second son of the family, Barron Cavendish will at most inherit another lower-level title, well, at most he will receive part of the property...
Moreover, no matter who looks at it, this young master, who has a light personality and likes to hang out in nightclubs, although he looks more handsome, his out-of-the-box personality really does not look like a "traditional aristocrat".
But things were so dramatic. His father and brother died in a car accident at the same time. As the only direct member of the Cavendish family, Barron became the first heir and would inherit the title of Duke of Devonshire, as well as the family's title. All property.
Normally, he would be able to successfully become a British aristocrat with the flag and live a boring, shameless aristocratic life...
But things were not that simple. After asking Butler Sean, especially after checking the family's asset bills, Barron understood what kind of dilemma he was facing.
First of all, as the heir of the family, if he wants to inherit the title and family property, he must first solve the huge inheritance tax problem!
Normally, the inheritance tax rate in England is as high as 40% - now it is much less, sometimes as high as 80%!
However, the Cavendish family simply had the foresight to package most of the family's assets in trust funds. This can exempt a large part of the inheritance tax, but the remaining fees that need to be paid are still quite a lot... …
However, the inheritance tax is probably not the biggest headache among the troubles he has to face, because the debt of the entire family is what he needs to solve most at this time!
This starts with Barron’s grandfather.
The entire Cavendish family has been passed down to Barron's generation, who is the 18th and 13th Duke of Devonshire.
At the peak of the Devonshire family, there were eight extremely huge estates in England and Ireland, covering an area of more than 200,000 acres. The inheritance tax paid by the Devonshire family alone once exceeded one million. British pounds, that was 1 million pounds in the early 19th century!
It can be said that ordinary people at that time may not be able to save hundreds of pounds in a lifetime!
From the time of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, Barron's great-grandfather, due to the poor management of the previous Duke of Devonshire and the economic environment of the entire UK at that time in the Great Depression, Devonshire The financial situation of the Duke's family was dire.
The 10th Duke of Devonshire felt that the previous huge inheritance tax had brought a burden to the family, so he tried every means to evade the huge inheritance tax through the fund model to reduce the burden on future generations.
According to the regulations at the time, it took five years before the estate could be eligible for exemption from estate tax after being packaged into a trust fund.
The 10th Duke of Devonshire was in the prime of life at the time, and without considering the special circumstances of his health, he did not hesitate to hand over all his property to the trust fund.
Something unexpected happened. At the beginning of the fifth year after the 10th Duke of Devonshire handed over his property, he suddenly died of a heart attack three months before the five-year deadline. As his successor, the 11th Duke of Devonshire, Andrew, That is, Barron's grandfather faces an inheritance tax rate of up to 80% - needing to pay an inheritance tax of 7 million pounds.
There are two choices before Andrew. One is to sell the inheritance and pay off the property tax and then inherit the inheritance; the other is to earn the 7 million pounds through his own efforts.
In the end, Barron's father chose the latter in order to preserve most of the family's inherited property.
He first sold part of his property to pay part of the inheritance tax - including nearly 60,000 acres of land, a Hardwick Manor, part of the collection including Rembrandt and Raphael paintings...
Then, he worked hard to make money to pay off the inheritance tax, and finally paid off the inheritance tax of 7 million pounds in 1974 through installment payment, thus becoming the real Devon Hill. Duke.
It can be said that Barron’s grandfather preserved hope for the future family...
But the problem lies with Barron's father. After the family was finally able to make a profit by opening up the manor, undertaking events, and opening hotels and other industries, he did not expect that at this time, due to investment, he would make a profit. Huge losses!
After reviewing the family's assets and debt list, and with the explanations from Butler Sean and the family trust fund manager, Barron was speechless and discovered that the debt of the entire family trust at this time exceeded 30 million pounds!
In addition, if he wants to successfully inherit the dukedom and keep the family assets, then he will need to spend at least more than 35 million pounds, including inheritance tax!
At this moment, Barron even had the idea of giving up everything and starting over...
