The process of estate planning can involve some tricky situations, and life insurance can sometimes be the solution. One such situation would be the matter of small business succession planning for business partners. Let's say that you have one partner in the business. If this partner was to pass away he or she is logically going to leave his or her share in the business to his or her family. For the purposes of our example no one in the family is capable of or interested in taking over …
Do You Have Questions About Charities?
Charitable giving can be a meaningful part of your estate plan if you are in a position to spread some resources around among worthy causes. When you discuss the matter with your estate planning lawyer you will hear about various different devices that can be used to facilitate charitable giving. One of these would be a charitable remainder unitrust. With these trusts you receive income throughout the duration of the trust term, and at the conclusion of the term a charitable beneficiary that …
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT CHARITIES?
Charitable giving can be a meaningful part of your estate plan if you are in a position to spread some resources around among worthy causes. When you discuss the matter with your estate planning lawyer you will hear about various different devices that can be used to facilitate charitable giving. One of these would be a charitable remainder unitrust. With these trusts you receive income throughout the duration of the trust term, and at the conclusion of the term a charitable beneficiary that …
Affluent Gay Couples Could Benefit From Supreme Court Decision
In the state of New York we have an estate tax on the state level. There is a $1 million exclusion on asset transfers, so only the first $1 million that you leave behind to your loved ones can pass tax-free. The above is true for everyone except married couples. If you are legally married you can leave any amount of money to your spouse tax-free utilizing the unlimited marital exemption. Because gay marriages are legal in New York this applies to same-sex couples who are legally married as …
Google Helps Users Prepare for Digital Afterlife
You have to consider your digital afterlife when you are planning your estate in the 21st-century. Just about everyone uses the Internet, and invariably you're going to have to address how your online accounts should be handled after you pass away. The digital afterlife is an interesting concept. It would be possible to leave behind quite a legacy online, and it would also be quite possible to have much of the information that you have created that exists in cyberspace deleted. Exactly how …
Three Often Overlooked Estate Plan Components
When you are planning your estate the eventual distribution of your financial resources to your heirs is probably going to be foremost on your mind, and rightly so. However, there are some other components that your estate plan should contain, and we would like to highlight three of them that are often overlooked. 1.) Durable Powers of Attorney Alzheimer's disease alone makes incapacity planning a must. Upwards of 45% of people who are at least 85 years old have Alzheimer's, and this is …
Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts Remain Popular
There are some types of trusts used in the estate planning field that can be quite a mouthful to say out loud, and as a result a lot of acronyms are utilized. One of these is "IDGT," and it stands for an intentionally defective grantor trust. What is going to stand out the most to people when they hear about these trusts is the term "defective." It can be hard to understand why anyone would want to create anything that is intentionally defective given the literal definition of the …
Will We See Higher Estate Tax in 2018?
The federal estate tax is carrying a 40% maximum rate at the present time, and the lifetime exclusion is $5.25 million. After the 11th hour passing of the piece of legislation that is now called the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 these parameters were supposed to be permanent. It should be noted that the estate tax exclusion is adjusted for inflation on an annual basis, so it will not be exactly the same year-by-year. Many observers who have an interest in estate planning would …
IRS Handling Higher Volume of Gift Tax Forms
The Forbes website is running an article that is interesting to people in the field of estate planning. It turns out that the Internal Revenue Service is expected to process a much higher volume of gift tax forms this year. If you give taxable or potentially taxable gifts during a given year you must file IRS Form 709. This is true even if you don't owe any tax yet because your overall giving falls below the lifetime unified gift/estate tax exclusion of $5.25 million. Those who need more …
As a Surviving Spouse Where Do You Turn?
The cold reality is that life does not stand still even when devastating events take place. When you lose your spouse you are obviously going to be experiencing something that is painful beyond words. At the same time, there are some practical matters that have to be attended to more or less right away. This is something to keep in mind when you are originally planning your estate as a married couple. Just expressing your wishes in writing is one thing, but you have to also consider the …
Don’t Be Among Those Who Make These Mistakes
Estate planning can seem simple on the surface to many people. When you are old and grey you somehow express your final wishes in writing and that's the long and short of it. In fact, this is a mistaken approach that can cause you and your family members some serious difficulties in the future. We would like to look at some of the common mistakes that people make in an effort to raise awareness. DIY Estate Planning These days people often try to find quick fixes on the Internet. There …
Take Steps to Prevent Dissonant Family Dynamic
There are those who would say that their money is exclusively their own business, but when it comes to estate planning this is not entirely true. You are in fact going to be giving out inheritances to others, so in a way it is their business to some extent. This doesn't mean that you are not the exclusive decision maker; however, your decisions are indeed going to impact your children and other people that may be on your inheritance list. With this in mind you may want to consider …
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