New York Estate Planning & Elder Law BlogIf you are navigating a divorce or recently lost a loved one, you might find yourself going through several complex estate planning documents. You might discover that you now have interests in one or several trusts. While you might have established a trust with a spouse to take care of children after your death or […]
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Using Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts to Avoid Estate Taxes
The federal estate tax exclusion was recently raised to $11.4, but there are cases where large estates or businesses are transferred to beneficiaries and the recipients are subject to estate taxes. In some situations, the only way for your loved ones to pay for the taxes that accompany these assets is to sell the very […]
The Challenges and Advantages of Creating a Trust
While trusts grow in their popularity and usage, some people still encounter difficulties in creating a trust. One problem that some clients face is banks and financial institutions who create challenges in funding a trust. While this problem is not all that common, it is still helpful to understand why these challenges can arise. […]
What Trust Instrument Is Right for You?
The advantage of including a trust in your estate plan is that trusts usually avoid probate. The beneficial effect of that advantage is that your beneficiaries may gain access to the assets held in trust faster than those assets transferred via will. When used optimally a trust may minimize estate taxes. Trust can be arranged […]
How to Reduce the Risk of Revocable Trust Litigation
The California Court of Appeals recently decided the case of Winston v. Winston-Levin, which reviews some important estate planning considerations. In 1986, Robert Levin created a revocable trust, which he later revised several times. Sadly Robert passed away in 2015, and litigation occurred concerning subsequent revisions to the trust when Robert’s daughter from a previous […]
Understanding the Differences Between Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts
Adding trust instruments to your estate plan can help a surviving spouse and other beneficiaries have access to assets while the rest of the estate is wound up. Especially if there are young children or children with special needs ensuring continuity of financial security to survivors is at the forefront of individuals making end of […]
Mistakes to Avoid When Establishing Trusts, Part 2
This is the last post in our in-depth series of trusts and why and how to include them in your estate plan. For prior topics, click here. We were last discussing common mistakes we see in the establishment of trust instruments. Our last post examined failing to fund the trust. The next topics surround beneficiary […]
The Elements of a Successful Inheritance Trust
Creating a successful inheritance trust is not easy. In some situations even when a family believes that they have created a well-written inheritance trust, they have failed to address a number of complexities including those involving incompetency. This article reviews some of the elements that should be included in an inheritance trust. # 1 – […]
Lessons Learned from In re Peter Val Preda Trusts
The Vermont Supreme Court recently heard the case of In re Peter Val Preda Trusts, which introduced some important estate planning issues that all individuals interested in creating trusts should understand. Both the individual who created the trust as well as his wife were deceased. In June 2018, the petitioners requested the Georgia probate […]
Irrevocable Trusts and Divorce: Words of Caution
A recurring theme in estate planning is that it is not a once and done activity. Instead, it is critical to revise estate plans following major life changes. One of the countless life changes that many people still do not think necessitates changes to estate plans is divorce. In reality, divorce changes a number […]