London, Jan. 29: Defying the old saying that you can’t take it with you, some of America’s richest men are planning to enjoy their fortunes from beyond the grave.

They are preparing not only to have their bodies deep-frozen at the moment of death but also to use a tax loophole to bequeath their wealth to themselves.

Known as personal revival trusts, the schemes invest millions of dollars until future medical technology makes it possible to bring the beneficiaries back to life.

Believers in “cryonics” sign up to private companies which will suspend their remains in liquid nitrogen and store them for what may be hundreds of years.

Most are extremely wealthy ? necessarily so, given the $150,000 cost of preserving a body. Now they are seeking to ensure enough future funds to pay for their revival ? and for their living expenses in what might be 23rd-century America.

David Pizer, a holiday resort owner in Arizona, has made arrangements to be frozen along with his wife and their favourite dogs. He also plans to preserve the couple’s fortune, estimated at about $10 million. Using a personal revival trust, Pizer, 64, who is in good health, hopes his wealth will have shown spectacular growth when he comes back to life.

The inheritance loophole was originally devised for America’s 19th-century industrial dynasties, such as the Rockefeller and Carnegie families. Concerned that their fortunes would be consumed by taxes, they created long-term trusts to preserve their estates.

Personal revival trusts simply name the deep-frozen corpses as a beneficiaries, treating them, for legal purposes, as unborn grandchildren.

Don Laughlin, 75, a Nevada casino owner, has decided to leave his preserved remains $5 million, estimating that he has “a better than even chance of coming back”. At least a dozen other such trusts are thought to exist.

They are permitted in 20 American states and are attracting interest from financial institutions such as the Wachovia Corporation, which has at least one client.

Another trust in the tax haven of Liechtenstein offers clients a return of $8,677,000 on a $10,000 investment over 100 years.