Directed by Fred Berner
Written by William N Fordes & Ed Zuckerman
Young heiress Annie Douglas dies after a night out with her cousin Randy. The police wonder if Randy, who has a history of drugs and even bought drugs that night, killed her for her inheritance. This leads the detectives to looking into her grandfather's will and his death from cancer. He was undergoing experimental treatments at a clinic. When they check into the patients' death records, they notice a troubling pattern: not the deaths themselves, but the dates. An expiring tax law makes it advantageous for their heirs if they die in 2010 (the year the episode aired and is set). Investigation turns up lots of cases, but little hard evidence because no one will go on the record with the conspiracy. Finally Amanda Green, the ex-girlfriend of beneficiary Catherine Douglas agrees to testify. Problem is, her testimony would be ripped to shreds because she would become the heir if her ex is found guilty. And then it comes out that Amanda carrying a baby conceived using her ex's egg, which gives them equal claim to motherhood, which Catherine uses to blackmail her pregnant ex into recanting.
- Batman Gambit: How the plan Rubirosa devises to apply the Judgment of Solomon plays out: Cutter offers Amanda and Catherine, the two exes, a deal that lets them both get something, but both lose something, and as expected they reject it. Enter the Upper-Class Twit nephew, Randy, who would be in charge of their baby.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Van Buren's comment that maybe the investigation into the cancer clinic will turn up a better doctor for her.
- Harmful Healing: What Dr. Balicek, the cancer clinic doctor, is most guilty of. Part of the conspiracy was that patients sent to him were going to die anyway, but under him they would almost certainly die sooner (and in one case have their suffering prolonged) so that the patients' death date qualifies for the loophole that benefits their heirs.
- Judgment of Solomon: Discussed by Jack, applied by Rubirosa to break the deadlock between the exes over an unborn baby. They threaten to give custody of the baby to a ne'er-do-well Upper-Class Twit nephew who neither of them can stomach.
- Only Cares About Inheritance: The patients at Dr. Balicek's cancer clinic were going to die anyway, but his treatment shortened their lives (and in one case, extended it despite loss of quality of life) so that their death dates would fall within a specific period. If they did, a loophole in tax law would be very favorable to their heirs. This trope applies to the family members who colluded with Balicek.
- Perp Sweating: Lots of it, but unlike most L&O examples, none of it leads anywhere because every suspect has too much to lose by breaking. The one person who agrees to cooperate doesn't realize at first that she does, too.
- Ripped from the Headlines / Truth in Television: The 2010 Estate Tax Loophole
was a real thing. - Shout-Out: To Chinatown. McCoy quotes the famous line, "She's my daughter! She's my sister! She's my daughter! My sister!"
