PROPOSAL TO MOVE BACK TO PREVIOUS TRUST LAWS As this blog discussed in the recent past, dynasty trusts are trusts that allow for a benefactor to pass wealth on to future generations via various legal mechanisms that allow a trust to carry on for literally hundreds of years, overcoming the…
VERY SIMPLE CONCEPT This blog examined the dynasty trust in the past but it is time to reexamine certain aspects of the dynasty trust. The dynasty trust is a trust designed primarily to avoid the generation skipping transfer tax when a person wants to leave money to their grandchildren or…
KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote in an opinion on a first amendment, free speech issue that became famous, but is so commonplace and true about life. Specifically he said that some things are hard to define, but he would know he if he…
STRANGE NAME, GREAT CONCEPT A person is entitled to gift up to $14,000 per year without incurring any gift tax liability. There are some limitations to those gifts, however. The gift must be for the unlimited, present usage of the interest that is being conveyed. That creates problems for when…
NAMING A TRUST AS AN IRA BENEFICIARY IN YOUR WILL Recently this blog touched on some of the issues related to leaving an individual retirement account to your heirs in a will, as found here. There are many options that people have to leave their IRA to others in a…
529 ACCOUNTS Estate planning is the legal strategy by which one generation transfers wealth to the next, which involves an the use of various trusts and/or a will or even transferring money or items to corporations in an effort to legally and ethically reduce tax liability. One of the easiest…
MONEY LEFT IN IRA AT TIME OF PASSING NOT SUBJECT TO NORMAL IRA RULES This blog previously discussed the Supreme Court case of Clark v. Rameker and the legal implications of money remaining in an IRA at death, that is in turn left to the heirs of an estate. Putting…
THE PROBLEM AND THE LAWS RESPONSE Sometimes when a person creates a trust they do not know all of the material facts, indeed cannot know all of the material facts regarding what is in the beneficiary’s best interest. Perhaps the trust expressly states that the beneficiaries cannot receive payment from…
IRREVOCABLE TRUSTS COSTS AND BENEFITS Trusts are valuable estate planning devices that allow for the transmission of wealth with lower tax liability. When proper estate management is picked, they also allow for the creation of future income, potentially allowing for the life of the trust in perpetuity. Trusts also allow…
Our government is based on federalism, which is why we have different laws in individual states as well as federal laws. This allows for legal “experimentation,” with representatives in each state free to make different rules in many areas, from taxation and healthcare to marriage and even crimes. One complexity…