Educational Alerts
Estate planning is much more than preparing a Will. The stories of Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, and Kasey Casey demonstrate how a comprehensive estate plan can make handling a lifetime incapacity or an unexpected death much easier for loved ones.
This month we examine how the lack of proper estate planning left an inheritance exposed to payment of tax liens assessed against a son. The estate’s attempt to argue that the son’s share was not available because of mom’s desire that lifetime advancements to the son be repaid or, in the alternative, that the son had disclaimed his inheritance, did not convince the federal court that the IRS could not collect against the son’s share of the estate.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Continuing Saga of the Brooke Astor Estate Philip Marshall, the grandson of noted socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor, managed to save his grandmother from the financial and physical elder abuse she was suffering at the hands of her son, Anthony Marshall. But Anthony managed to extract a bit of […]
Drafting an estate plan takes great care. There are many pitfalls in the drafting process. This article looks at how improper drafting can result in a dramatically different outcome from what the client wanted to achieve.
Trusts can be very flexible. They can be drafted for a wide variety of needs. When those needs change, the trust may be able to accommodate those changing needs. Even if the trust cannot meet those changing needs, it may be possible to change the trust terms.
As our life expectancies get longer, the need for long-term care increases. Who will pay for the long-term care expenses and how? The article discusses sources for long-term care expenses and a trend to hold adult children responsible for the parent’s long-term care expenses if the parent cannot afford it.
Some of the most important decisions a client will make are the selection of the trustee and the standard the trustee will have to make decisions. Read further to learn how these decisions influence a client’s estate plan.
Selling a large asset can trigger taxes at a high rate. See how a typical client can slash their taxes by using alternatives, such as a Charitable Remainder Trust.
Sometimes even wealthy, sophisticated clients can fail to plan. Learn how the failure to plan can diminish the assets the client leaves behind to the detriment of the family and their advisors.
Retirement assets are a large part of most Americans’ total wealth. The key to maximizing and maintaining that wealth is to keep the assets in the retirement accounts for as long as possible. However, that alone will not shield the retirement assets from the creditors of beneficiaries. Read more to find out how to gain maximum deferral of income taxes as well as protection from the creditors of beneficiaries.
