It seems as though every family has a “black sheep.” That one person who does their one thing and doesn’t seem to adhere to the same beliefs or lifestyle as other family members. Sometimes this individual has a mental health issue or addiction; however, it may also simply be that your family’s black sheep walks to the beat of a different drummer. Regardless of the reason, figuring out how to handle the proverbial “black sheep” in your estate plan can be difficult. To help get you started, the …
What Should Be Included in My Estate Plan?
The prospect of creating an estate plan can be a bit uncomfortable and even intimidating for most people. After all, the process requires you to consider your own death or incapacity as well as to understand what legal steps you need to take to plan for either. It helps to have a general idea of what tools and strategies go into a typical “starter” estate plan. With that in mind, the Long Island estate planning attorneys at Eghrari Law Firm explain what should be included in your estate …
How Often Should I Review My Estate Plan?
Every young adult should create a basic estate plan, regardless of the monetary value of their estate. If you created an estate plan when you were younger, you may have done what most people do after it was complete – absolutely nothing. One of the biggest estate planning mistakes is to create a plan and then fail to review the plan down the road. To help prevent you from making this common mistake, the Long Island estate planning attorneys at Eghrari Law Firm discuss how often you should review …
Gay Couples Must Plan Ahead–Even In New York
Estate planning attorneys around the country will always emphasize how important it is for gay couples to plan ahead because they have no protections under state intestacy laws of succession. Unmarried committed couples would have no rights with regard to medical decision-making on behalf of domestic partners either. But since gay marriage is legal here in New York we don't have to worry about estate planning, right? The answer is a resounding no. First of all, do you think a heterosexual …
What Are the Gift Tax Exclusions in New York?
What Are the Gift Tax Exclusions in New York? from Mark Eghrari Lifetime gifting to avoid the estate tax was possible shortly after the enactment of the death tax in 1916. However, to close this window, a gift tax which is now unified with estate tax, was put in place. …
Take Our Estate Planning IQ Quiz
If you ask the typical layperson what he or she knows about estate planning in many cases the answer is going to be "Not a whole lot." Everyone is aware of the existence of a last will as a way to express your wishes regarding the distribution of your assets after you pass away. However, aside from that most people have not taken the time to learn much about estate planning. However, when you do understand the facts you see a different picture. Simply drawing up a last will stating who …
What Is a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust?
A grantor retained annuity trust can be part of your estate plan if you are exposed to the federal estate tax. In this post we will look at the "zeroed out" grantor retained annuity trust strategy. First, we must provide some background about the federal estate tax parameters. Exclusion and Maximum Rate At the end of 2010 a tax relief act was passed that set the estate tax exclusion at $5 million in 2011. This act called for annual adjustments to account for inflation. A couple of years later, …
What Is an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust?
In this post we are going to look at the value of irrevocable life insurance trusts. However, before we examine these trusts, we must provide some background information. Federal Estate Tax Exposure An irrevocable life insurance trust can be useful if you are exposed to the federal estate tax. When you are planning your estate, you should evaluate all of your taxable resources so that you know if you do in fact have any estate tax liability. During the current calendar year, the amount …
What Is a Qualified Personal Residence Trust?
A qualified personal residence trust can be useful when you are exposed to federal transfer taxes. There is a federal estate tax, and there is also a federal gift tax. These taxes are said to be unified by the Internal Revenue Service. Unification of Gift and Estate Tax When the estate tax was first enacted in 1916, there was no federal gift tax. As a result, people could just give gifts while they were living to avoid the estate tax. To close this loophole, a gift tax was put into place …
What Is the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax?
You have to be concerned about preserving your wealth if you have been financially successful throughout your life. There is a federal estate tax that carries a hefty rate, and it can significantly erode the wealth that you are passing along to your loved ones. In 2014, the maximum rate of this tax is a robust 40 percent, so we are talking about a rather large bite. This is not the only federal transfer tax. If it was, you could give gifts while you are living to avoid the estate tax. To …
Estate Planning for Small Business Partners
There is no one size fits all estate plan, because everyone is in a different situation. It is not always as simple as drawing up a last will splitting up a pie that is going to be easily divisible. For example, if you are a small business partner, you will naturally have a number of concerns that company employees will not have to address. As a small business partner you must decide what will happen to your share of the business after you pass away. You may want to spread the value of …
What Is the Difference Between a Guardianship and a Power of Attorney?
You should prepare for the contingencies that you may face toward the end of your life when you are planning your estate. There are some realities that sober minded individuals must confront, and some of them may not be particularly pleasant. At the same time, you must address all eventualities if you want to be optimally prepared for the future. With this in mind, let's look at the matter of adult guardianship. Court Appointed Representative A very significant percentage of senior …
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