Month: January 2020
Can a Guardian Amend a Ward’s Revocable Trust?
When a person (the “grantor”) creates a revocable trust, the grantor can generally amend or revoke the trust at any time prior to the grantor’s death. What if the grantor becomes incapacitated? Can the guardian of the grantor amend the trust? To find these answers you...
Probate Court Looking for An Estate Tax Closing Letter? IRS Provides Alternative!
Form 706, Federal united States Estate (and Generation Skipping Transfer) Tax Return is required for taxable estates. If the estate is also subject to probate, then an “estate tax closing letter” is filed with the probate court. This letter confirms that all estate...
Did you know your “portability” exemption may be worth something if you get married??
Under current estate tax laws each individual is entitled to a 5.340 MILLION dollar (this amount is adjusted each year for inflation) exemption (technically an “applicable exclusion amount”) when they die. Thus, if you have under 5.340 Million (which most of us have)...
Make Sure You Notice ALL Qualified Beneficiaries!
If you are a trustee or represent a trustee in a trust administration, then it is important to determine the qualified beneficiaries and the trustee’s duties to qualified beneficiaries. A recent case illustrates the importance of that determination when a trust is...
Be Careful with Prenuptial Agreements!
The drafting of a prenuptial agreement is a very complicated process. You should always have legal advice. Generally (not always) a family law attorney will draft such an agreement with the help and advice of an experienced estate planning attorney. In a recent...
What if the Will and an LLC Operating Agreement Conflict? Which Controls?
Generally, the terms of a Will control the disposition of a decedent’s assets at death (unless the assets are governed by a trust, a beneficiary designation or a payable on death or another similar account). Assume a decedent owns a membership interest in a limited...
Surviving Spouse? Don’t Make an IRA Rollover Mistake!
Professionals often advise individuals to name their spouse as a beneficiary of an IRA. Instead of immediately reporting the distributions from the deceased spouse’s IRA as taxable income, the surviving spouse can rollover the amount into their own IRA. They can then...
How do YOU Define Spouse?
In light of the recent Supreme Court decision in United States v. Windsor in which a same sex marriage was upheld to allow for the marital estate tax deduction, many of your plans need to be revisited EVEN IF you are not in a same sex marriage. Let’s assume that your...
Estate Planning in 2013
As previously discussed, the American Taxpayer Relief Act, H.R. 8 (the “Act”) extended the unified estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exclusion amount of $5 million indexed for inflation ($5.250 million in 2013) effective Jan. 1, 2013. The Act made the...
A Recipe for Disaster… Improper Planning for Stepchildren
It is no secret that, when parents get remarried, one of the biggest issues, either financially or emotionally, is dealing with stepchildren and step-parenting. The issues become even more apparent when the biological father or mother dies. A recent case shows what...