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 …
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 …
Federal Estate Tax & Married NY Same-Sex Couples
The passage of the New York Marriage Equality Act back in 2011 had some profound implications from an estate planning perspective. Here in New York we have a state estate tax, and in 2013 there is a $1 million exemption. So, assets that you have that exceed $1 million in value are taxable as you are transferring them to your heirs. However, there is an unlimited exemption between spouses. As a result, same-sex couples that are legally married in the state of New York can take advantage of …
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