We often get questions about what to do when a person wants to give up their authority over their personal and financial life. If they do not already have a Revocable Living Trust that provides for a transfer of that authority, then the next best thing is a Power of Attorney (POA). The person who Read the full article…
As one annually services their automobile for an oil change and routine maintenance, it is also prudent to review your trust to confirm that your original documents are consistent with your wishes. At a minimum, one should look at the following provisions of their trust to determine if any changes are required: Successor Trustee – Read the full article…
When considering the creation of a will or a trust, one usually thinks about pre-death planning. However, the beneficiaries have an opportunity where post-mortem planning comes into play. Let’s look at an important post-mortem planning tool – the disclaimer. A disclaimer is a refusal to accept an interest in or a power over property – Read the full article…
A Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) is a trust established between spouses. Essentially, one spouse gives the other spouse assets in an amount that uses up the unused Federal Estate Tax Exemption. The trust of one spouse must be materially different from the trust of the other spouse. The reciprocal trust doctrine allows the IRS Read the full article…
We often get questions from clients on how to hold title to property they are about to purchase. As real estate might be the most important asset that an individual or couple may own, how ownership is vested is extremely important. Proper titling will affect the current and future rights of parties to the transaction, Read the full article…
Since lifetime gift exemption has drastically increased by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which went into effect in 2018, considerably fewer people are subject to estate tax filing. According to the TCJA, for 2022, decedents with an estate valued less than $12,060,000 are not required to file an estate tax return. However, to Read the full article…
The SECURE Act, which became effective on January 1, 2021, changed the rules for inherited IRAs. Prior to that, the rules were very beneficial to non-spousal beneficiaries. The act upended the “life expectancy” rule for distributions and, in its place, created the 10-year rule for non-spousal beneficiaries. The act establishes a time period of 10 Read the full article…
In the first article in this series, we covered what a trust is and the type of assets you may transfer to a trust. As a reminder, a trust is a legal agreement between two parties: the trustee and the trustor (sometimes called the settlor or grantor). The trustor is the person who establishes the Read the full article…
In this first article in our upcoming series, we will discuss a trust and the type of assets you may transfer to a trust. Please stay tuned for more related articles coming soon and reach out to our team if you have any questions about estate and trust. A trust is a legal agreement between Read the full article…
In one of our previous articles, we covered the topic of disclaimers as an excellent post-mortem tax planning tool. As discussed, anyone can “disclaim” a part of their inheritance. By doing so, it would go to the successor’s heirs as if the beneficiary had predeceased the decedent. But what if you don’t want that bequest Read the full article…
