That structure is in keeping with Sam Walton’s vision to minimize estate taxes while keeping the family’s control of the company unified. In 1953, he put his stock in a trust that gave each of his children a 20 percent stake in the business, leaving the remainder for himself and his wife.

"The principle behind this is simple: the best way to reduce paying estate taxes is to give your assets away before they appreciate," Sam Walton explained in his autobiography.

When John married Christy Tallant, he had a net worth of about $195 million, according to a 1982 premarital agreement that was unsealed this month by the Wyoming court.


Tax Avoidance


John Walton’s own bequest appeared to take advantage of several tools to reduce taxes on the estate. The estate was appraised at $6.6 billion, according to the documents.

Yet, the Wal-Mart shares controlled by John Walton’s estate would have had a market value of $17 billion at the time of his death if he hadn’t given any of his holdings away during his lifetime, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That discount in part reflects the holding structure the family has established for their shares, according to John Anzivino, head of the estates and trust division at Miami-based accountants Kaufman Rossin.

"The LLC may have all kinds of restrictions, such as profit allocations and lack of control, which reduce its value from the market value of the stock itself," he said. In Bloomberg’s analysis, the net worth of Christy and Lukas is calculated using the retailer’s stock price.

This structure saw the estate estimate its tax liability to be about $1.4 billion, only 21 percent of the appraised value. The top federal estate tax rate was 47 percent in 2005, according to Anzivino. This is the rate on the portion passing to the child subject to estate tax in excess of the exemption of $1.5 million. Christy, as the surviving spouse, gets her share estate tax-free and the gift to the charitable trusts are estate tax-free.


Charitable Trusts


John Walton’s will split the estate into two parts.