JAnn

Philip Seymour Hoffman left an estimated $35 million. His will left nothing directly to his three children, and the IRS was expected to take about $15 million of it. He signed the will on October 7, 2004, when he had only one child, his son Cooper. He never updated it. Two daughters, Tallulah and Willa, came later. Everything went to Mimi O'Donnell, the mother of all three kids. The will called her his "friend and companion." They were never married. That one detail is what cost so much. A husband can leave his wife any amount free of federal estate tax. A partner gets no such break. Estate lawyers estimated the bill at around $15 million. He was warned. In Manhattan Surrogate's Court filings, his accountant said Hoffman rejected a trust for the kids again and again, as recently as the year before he died. He "did not want his children to be considered 'trust fund' kids." His lawyer said the same: Hoffman "did not like the idea of setting up a trust for his children." He trusted Mimi to take care of them. The will had one more wish. He wanted Cooper raised in or near Manhattan, Chicago or San Francisco, and if not, to visit them at least twice a year, so he would see culture, arts and architecture. He died of an overdose in February 2014. He was 46. In the video below, Hoffman explains that he wants people to work for a personal stake, not just a job: "I think you get the best work that way." The case for Philip: he wanted his kids to grow up working, not waiting for a check, and he left it all to the woman raising them. The case against: by refusing to marry or sign one trust, he handed the IRS a fortune that could have been theirs. Was it a father protecting his kids from money, or a father who let the IRS take their share?