By Herbert E. Nass,managing partner,Herbert E. Nass &Associates, New York

A Graceful ExitAt the eleventh hour, actress and art patron Kitty Carlisle Hartadded a codicil to her will that was generous toa housekeeper and equalized. gifts to her children

On April 17, 2007, the nation losta grande dame of the arts andculture: Kitty Carlisle Hart, chair

of the New York State Council on the Artsfrom 1976 to 1996, a woman who had anextraordinarily long and varied career inshow business.

Born with the name Catherine Conn(pronounced Cohen) to a Jewish family liv-ing in New Orleans, La., in 1910,Kitty was96 years old when she died in New YorkCity. In between, she appeared in numerousfilms, including the Marx Brothers' A Nightat the Opera (1935), Woody Allen's RadioDays (1987) and Six Degrees of Separation(1992). She also starred in many Broadwayplays and musicals. And she was marriedto the playwright and director Moss Hartfrom 1946 until his death in 196~.Moss wasfamous for such plays as You Can't Take ItWith You (1936, Pulitzer Prize), The ManWho Came to Dinner (1939), My Fair Lady(1956) and Camelot (1960).

It was after Moss was gone that Kittybecame known to popular culture, alloverAmerica really;through appearances on suchpopular television game shows as To Tellthe Truth, What's My Line, Password andThe Match Game, on which she was alwayscharming, fashionable and sophisticated.

This famous lady left a last will and tes-tament dated May 17,2002. A first codicil

to that will, dated Jan. 24, 2007, was addedless than three months before her death.The codicil increased a bequest to Kitty'shousekeeper, Ester Sonne, from $10,000

to $50,000. The codicil also includes aprovision that forgives any indebtednessfrom Kitty's two children, Catherine Hart(who has the same first name that hermother was born with) and ChristopherHart. The clause states: "If the amountgiven to them, including any forgiveness ofdebt, are unequal, then Igive to the childhaving received a lesser amount, a sumsufficient to equalize the monetary giftsto my children. Monetary gifts to a spouseshall be included in the computation ofgifts to a child. Ido not intend to equalizemonetary gifts to my grandchildren sincethey are unequal in number." Althoughgrandma apparently made lifetime gifts toher grandchildren, there are no bequestsmentioned in her will to any of her threesurviving grandchildren.

There is also a $5,000 bequest in the willto the "KITTY CARLISLE HART THEATREin Albany, New York." (Not too manypeople would be able to make a bequest toa theatre named after thernselves.)

As for her tangible personal property;Kitty's jewelry was bequeathed to her onlydaughter Catherine; the rest was divid-ed equally between both Catherine and

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Christopher-with the request that they"give a portrait or picture of me to theKITTY CARLISLE HART THEATRE." Wecan only wonder which portrait it will beand where the theater will hang it.

Although Kitty was survived by two adultchildren who are the only beneficiaries of herresiduary estate, Kitty named her attorney,David Grossberg, as the executor of her will.The 96-year-old Hart wisely named a personyounger than herself asher executor. AttorneyGrossberg is only in his 80'S and was obvi-ously very trusted, as he'd served as Hart'sattorney for more than 45 years. Hart's willprovided that if attorney Grossberg "shallcease for any reason to act" as executor, thenKitty appointed her two adult children,Catherine and Christopher, as successorco-executors.

On the probate petition filed with theNew York County Surrogate's Court, thevalue of the Hart estate is listed as beingin excess of $500,000. But clearly theemphasis here should be on the "in excessof." In New York, $500,000 is the thresh-old that requires a payment of the state'slargest probate filing fee in the amountof $1,250. The documents do not list thefull value of Hart's estate. The court filealso reveals that Grossberg followed allproper procedures and had his client signthe attorney-as-fiduciary disclosure formin accordance with New York Surrogate'sCourt Procedure Act Section 2307-a,which allows an executor to receive a fullexecutor's commission, instead of one-half,which is payable in the absence of thesigned disclosure form. We do not knowwhat a full commission would be with-out knowing the gross value of the Hartestate.

Hart's will provides that were she to havehad no survivors, her entire residuary estatewould have been left to the DramatistsGuild Fund, Inc. "with the request thatthis be administered in such a way as to

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perpetuate the name of MOSS HART, bya separate fund or similar arrangement."If the Dramatists Guild were no longer inexistence, the executor had the discretionto distribute the residuary estate to taxexempt organizations "for the benefit ofplaywrights and to encourage writing forthe theatre, endeavoring to use the nameMOSS HART in connection with this."Even though Moss had died 46 yearsearlier in 1961, Kitty did not forgethim in her will.

Moss Hart's plays and Kitty'sappearances will live on in thememories of those fortunateenough to have seen his dramasor her performances. I

Kitty Carlisle, circa 1934, right, when she wasa Hollywood film actress under contract withParamount and appeared with Bing Crosby inShe Loves Me Not.

Below, in 1964, then KittyCarlisle Hart, on a celebritypanel of the televisiongame show To Tell theTruth, with host BudCollyer (standing rear)and actorsTom Poston (left)and Orson Bean.

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AUGUST 2007 63TRUSTS & ESTATES I trustsandestates.com