What to Think About When Naming Permanent Guardians Most estate planning attorneys will encourage you to set up estate plans for many reasons: to protect against probate; to plan for incapacity; to create asset protection; to further tax planning; if you have a child under the age of 18, to plan for their guardianship in…
Per Stirpes vs. Per Capita at Each Generation? Say What? While engineering your estate plan, you’re likely to come across the terms “per capita at each generation” or “per stirpes.” (No, we are not talking about stripes here. Unfortunately, your estate plan is not available in stripes, houndstooth, or gingham). Instead, these terms are options…
IRS Form 706 is commonly known as an “Estate Tax Return.” It is not well-known even by most accountants and is rarely filed. But estate planning lawyers will swear by them! So what’s the deal? Why are they so elusive to some, and yet so important to file according to others? Usually, there is a…
HOW TRUST ADMINISTRATION WORKS What happens if someone creates a trust and then dies? Now what? The person in charge is called the “successor trustee.” Being a successor trustee is an honor and privilege since the person who created the trust (the “Decedent”) trusted your judgement and character to allow you to exercise control over…
How Probate Works If your loved one has passed away and left behind certain assets, you may or may not have to go to court in order to access or inherit those assets. You can learn more about what a probate is generally and why it occurs by reading our article, What is a Probate? …
This is a common question from those who set up living trusts. First off, if you are contemplating NOT doing a trust because you plan on just owning an account in your personal name, and you figure by naming other individuals as your beneficiaries, you are fine, then please read why you should not rely…
Whether intentionally or not, some people are of the opinion that a trust is not necessary either because they have someone else named on their account or because there is a beneficiary. So does beneficiary-designated accounts or joint accounts still go through probate? Well, it depends. Keep reading… Beneficiary Accounts If an asset has a…
WHAT IS A PROBATE? You may think that after your loved one passes away, everything they own will simply go to their spouse, children, siblings, or closest family members. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. With a few exceptions discussed below, when you die, your assets will go through court. This is called probate. (For…
Many answers to questions from attorneys begin with, “It depends,” followed by a long list of rules, which themselves are followed by a longer list of exceptions. This is not one of those answers! Instead, the answer to whether you should add your child to the home deed is almost always, “Never.” There are many…
Who Needs a Bypass Trust? Prior to 2012, many married couples created joint trusts known as “A-B” trusts. The problem now is that these trusts may actually cause more harm than good. In this article, I discuss Bypass Trusts — who needs them, who does not, and what to do if you have one of…
It’s not the QTIP you’re thinking of! To better understand this concept, it’s advised that you first read my article about estate taxes and then my article on bypass trusts. The QTIP trust is a popularly-used strategy to limit potential estate taxes among married individuals, while also being able to control the destination of assets…
Why set up an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT)? An irrevocable life insurance trust (referred to as an ILIT) is a type of irrevocable trust that typically is used to own life insurance policies on your life. Instead of you owning the policy and naming your family members as the beneficiaries, the ILIT will own…
Feeling in-SECURE? In January of this year, a new law came into effect known as the SECURE Act, which is the most impactful legislation affecting retirement accounts in decades. You may have read politicians applaud the bill but be very weary — what Congress cloaked under the guise of “freebies” turns out to be nothing…
What is an Irrevocable Trust? Many people often ask me, “What’s an irrevocable trust?” Or some clients come ready to ask the follow-up question, “If an irrevocable trust means I cannot change it, why would anyone want to create one?” Let’s get one thing straight. No one wants a trust they can’t change. Rather, it’s…
When a Beneficiary Dies “When the RMS Titanic sank into the icy waters of the North Atlantic, one of the lesser-known problems it raised was how to handle the estates of married couples who refused to part as the ship went down. Several women chose to remain with their husbands on board the ship instead…
Understanding the Estate and Gift Tax There are two types of federal taxes. The first, and more well-known one, is called income tax. The second type of tax is known as transfer taxes. There are three kinds of transfer taxes: the gift tax, the generation-skipping transfer tax, and the federal estate tax. One of the…
Why do People Create LLCs? If you own a rental property, it is strongly advised that you create an LLC. I’m going to give you 3 reasons why, but before that a few introductory remarks in general about who I am and why you should listen to me. I have personally sued property owners and…
Why are some estate plans more expensive than others? If this is your first time doing an estate plan, one question you are probably asking yourself is, “How much is a trust going to cost?” This is a reasonable question to ask. But it should not be the only question you ask. Instead, you should…
PROP 19: REDUCE PROPERTY TAXES BEFORE FEBRUARY 16TH! Proposition 19 will affect each and every person who owns a property, whether it’s a primary residence, a vacation home, a rental property, or a commercial property. According to the new law, we have a limited window to take action in order to lock in our property taxes under the old…
A New Era of Estate Planning in the Age of Covid-19 The spread of Covid-19 has caused a huge spike in the number of people looking to get their estate planning done immediately. This is not surprising given the number of people who have not done their estate plans yet. But what may be spreading…
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