Timing Of George Steinbrenner's Death Makes Tranferring Ownership Of Yankees Easier

And now for a bit on some of the unseemly implications of legendary Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's passing.

As The Business Insider's Joe Weisenthal points out, Steinbrenner's passing in 2010 will prove quite lucrative for his family, and should reduce the legal hoops they'll have to jump through to fully transfer ownership of the team to them. The reason passing away in 2010 matters is that there is no estate tax this year; the Bush tax cuts gradually phased out the estate tax before letting it lapse completely in 2010, with it returning in 2011.

With the Yankees franchise valued at some $1.6 billion, the lack of an estate tax -- which will likely go back to top marginal rate of 55 percent for the largest estates -- is obviously worth quite a bit to the Steinbrenner clan. Of course, focusing on financial matters like this shortly after Steinbrenner's death is somewhat indecorous, but it should make transferring ownership of the Yankees much less messy for them.