Category Archives: Uncategorized
Qualified Personal Residence Trust: What Is It and When Should You Consider One?
Americans have enjoyed historically high estate tax exemption rates for most of the last twenty years. Such high exemption amounts have kept many of them from needing to seek out more advanced estate planning strategies to avoid estate taxes, which have been as high as 60 percent during those same years. However, it is… Read More »
How Can Remarriage Affect Your Estate Planning?
Divorce is more common now than it was in the past, as is remarriage. Depending on how long a prior marriage lasted, the former couple may have engaged in certain levels of estate planning together. When that is the case, it is important to understand how remarriage can impact the estate planning from a… Read More »
Warning: Don’t Let Creditors Inherit from You or Your Spouse
Although a surviving spouse receives special treatment when inheriting a retirement account such as an IRA (the ability to roll over the account into a personal retirement account and to stretch the distributions over their lifetime), the retirement account you leave for your spouse can still be seized in a divorce, a lawsuit, or… Read More »
The Danger of Adding Your Kids to Your Bank Accounts
I want to leave my bank accounts to my children when I’m gone. Can’t I just make the children joint owners? That idea sounds better than it actually is. Yes, the bank accounts would avoid probate proceedings when you pass. But by adding kids to your bank accounts, you’d put yourself at risk at… Read More »
Elder financial abuse and Medicaid: How are they related?
A major problem faces Americans as they grow older – Elder Financial Abuse. But did you know that there is a documented link between elder financial abuse and Medicaid denials? What is Elder Financial Abuse? Elder financial abuse is a growing issue for Americans. Studies show that $2.9 Billion are lost every year… Read More »
Does My Estate Plan Need to Include My Vacation Property?
Yes! If you own a vacation property, timeshare, investment property, or any other asset outside of the state where you are domiciled, you must make sure it’s included in your estate plan. If you fail to include these in your estate plan, or fail to have an estate plan at all, your heirs will… Read More »
New Baby? The Importance of Estate Planning for New Parents
Estate planning is often one item that gets pushed back on nearly everyone’s to-do list. The reasons you might be delaying vary: lack of time, not thinking you have enough assets, not knowing how to start, or fear of contemplating death. Whatever the reason for not putting an estate plan together up until now,… Read More »
Irrevocable Trust vs. Revocable Trust: Which Is Best for You?
Trusts allow you to avoid probate, minimize taxes, provide organization, maintain control, and provide for yourself and your heirs. In its most simple terms, a trust is a book of instructions wherein you tell your people what to do, when. While there are many types of trusts, the major distinction between trusts is whether… Read More »
Landmark Case: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Inherited IRAs are Not Protected from Creditors
On June 12, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court—in a unanimous decision—ruled that Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) inherited by anyone other than a spouse are not retirement funds and therefore are not protected from the beneficiary’s creditors in bankruptcy. The reasoning is, because the beneficiary cannot make additional contributions or delay distributions until retirement, it… Read More »
Decanting: How to Fix a Trust That Isn’t Getting Better With Age
While many wines get better with age, the same cannot be said for some irrevocable trusts. Maybe you’re the beneficiary of trust created by your great grandfather over seventy years ago and that trust no longer makes sense. Or, maybe you created an irrevocable trust over twenty years ago and it no longer makes… Read More »
