Tax Planning for 2022
Planning is important for your income taxation during life as well as for any estate tax at death. Even though 2022 is just starting, it’s not too early to think about planning for whatever it may bring your way.
Legal Education
How Using Specific Bequests Could Cost Beneficiaries their Inheritance
Parents often decide to leave one child a specific asset and provide an equalizing cash bequest to the other. This article explores how specific bequests may provide unintended results. Read on to learn more.
The Importance of Insuring Real Estate
Transferring real estate to a trust has become a widely used tool in estate planning. Unfortunately, it’s easy to overlook important aspects of the transfer that lead to unintended consequences. With careful planning, you can avoid these traps. Read on to learn more.
Charitable Planning in Times of Crisis
During times of uncertainty, we tend to feel helpless. This article explores how charitable giving gives us a sense of purpose in trying times. Read on to learn more.
Don’t be a Turkey – Use Your Annual Per Donee Exclusion Amount
As fall turns into winter and the holiday season arrives, it’s natural to review the year, plan for the next, and count your blessings. One of the ways to plan for the next year, and perhaps to address some outstanding concerns in this one, is to consider making annual per donee exclusion gifts. This article will explore annual exclusion gifting and demonstrate how gifts of seemingly modest amounts can be a powerful estate planning tool. Read on to learn more.
The Kiddie Tax is No Child’s Game
If you set up a trust or other investment vehicle for your child, that child could incur taxes at a rate much higher than anticipated. The Kiddie Tax was enacted to prevent parents from transferring investments to the name of their child or children to take advantage of that child’s lower tax rate. Read on to learn more.
A Time for Thanks and Community
Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks and for appreciating your family and friends. In particular, it can be a good time to thank those people whom you’ve asked to serve in important roles in your estate plan. Thank your agents under your powers of attorney and your successor trustees.
The Other Side of the Unauthorized Practice of Law
What happens when an individual who is not licensed to practice law provides advice to an individual – does the quality of the advice matter if the individual is unlicensed? This article explores the unauthorized practice of law and how it damages the legal profession.
Estate Planning Reduces Stress During High Anxiety Times
During times of high stress such as tragedy or emergency, we tend to feel helpless. This article explores how a comprehensive estate plan helps reduce anxiety in uncertain times.
Changing “Irrevocable” Trusts Through Use of a Trust Protector
Advisors often include irrevocable trusts as part of a comprehensive estate plan to achieve both tax and non-tax goals. The use of irrevocable trusts can cause apprehension because of the perception that irrevocable trusts are inflexible in changing circumstances. This article explores how the use of a trust protector may provide flexibility in an irrevocable trust to address these concerns.