Bizarre 'reason' why Donald Trump buried first ex-wife on his own golf course
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Sport, US News
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images/TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Sport, US News
It's long been known that Donald Trump is an avid golfer.
As well as owning a staggering 12 golf properties across America, the 78-year-old boasts a further two in Scotland, as well as one in Ireland and another in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Apparently, however, the President's 'passion' for the sport reaches such an extent that when his first wife Ivana tragically died in 2022, he had the 73-year-old buried under one of his own courses.
Yep, it's true. Within weeks of his former flame passing away following a fall at her New York City home, she was placed six feet under near the first hole of Trump's National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Advert
This made her the first ever (known) individual to be buried at the golf course that the Trump family frequently summer.
For those in need of a reminder, the couple were married between 1977 and 1990, with the Czech-American businesswoman birthing three children - Donald Jr, Ivanka, and Eric - to the controversial politician.
They eventually split when it emerged that Trump had begun an affair with Georgia-born actor and TV personality Marla Maples, with whom he eventually went on to welcome daughter Tiffany.
Ivana is often credited as having contributed to forging the Trump Organization into the powerhouse it is today, having held key leadership positions at the firm for a number of years.
Oddly, Trump's decision to have his ex-wife buried on the land where he plays his golf wasn't simply a case of having his two of his favourite things merged together. In fact, it was considerably more tactical than that.
Documents made public by ProPublica allege that the mother-of-three's family initially sought to bury her in the land of nearby property in Hackettstown, New Jersey, which would become a non-profit cemetery company.
As suggested by The Guardian, however, the location of Ivana's grave may have been chosen to serve Trump's 'long-held tax planning purposes'.
This is because the tax code in New Jersey exempts cemetery land from all forms of tariff and assessment.
As such, Ivana's grace might just have advantageous tax implications for her ex's family, whose land resides in a state with notoriously high land and property taxes.
As per Insider, cemeteries in the East Coast state are famously exempt from real estate rates and personal property taxes, as well as business taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and inheritance taxes.
Sociology professor Brooke Harrington - who works at Dartmouth college in New Hampshire - recently spoke of Trump's decision to have his ex buried where she was.
"As a tax researcher, I was skeptical of rumors Trump buried his ex-wife in that sad little plot of dirt on his Bedminster, NJ golf course just for tax breaks," she began, as per the publication. "So I checked the NJ tax code & folks…it’s a trifecta of tax avoidance.
"Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated."
The Guardian notes, however, that it's unlikely for Trump's entire 1.5 acre Bedminster property to evade any form of taxation, adding that the break from tariffs only applies in plots smaller than 10 acres.