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Delaware Online: AG Biden wants a say on Nemours

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden moved Tuesday to get the First State a seat at the table as the $4.6 billion Florida trust that funds A.I. du Pont Hospital for Children heads to court to reorganize.

For decades, the proceeds from a trust set up by the last will and testament of Alfred I. du Pont have poured millions into Delaware through the Nemours Foundation for the care of sick children and the elderly.

Biden said Tuesday he wants to make sure that keeps happening, even as trustees seek to restructure the trust for tax reasons and for “convenience of administration,” according to Florida court papers.

According to documents filed in Florida’s Duval County Circuit Court in December, the trustees want to divide the trust into two parts: one to fund obligations to a handful of individuals named in du Pont’s will who are still living and the second to fund the charitable trust, which funds Nemours.

The change, according to court papers, will allow the trust to more easily qualify for charitable tax-exempt status on its investments overseas, a status it already enjoys in the United States.

Officials with Nemours, and the attorney who filed the paperwork in Florida seeking to reform the trust, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

Biden said, after reviewing court papers, the restructured trust and the Nemours Foundation should continue the charitable work in Delaware. His office has no problem with dividing the trust into two, as only a small fraction of its assets — $20 million — will be set aside to meet the obligations to individuals.

But Biden said he wants the state to participate in the process and “guard the intent of Alfred I. du Pont,” who died in 1935, to provide for the care and treatment of crippled children and the elderly in Delaware. That’s why he filed legal papers in Florida seeking to intervene and have Delaware become a party to the reorganization.

Joining the suit also will allow Delaware to have a say if the trustees try to make any additional changes to the trust as part of the legal process.

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