Many people are surprised to learn that they can be required to file a federal gift tax return even when no gift tax is owed. Here are the rules.
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Naming a trusted family member as executor may be a natural choice, but it may not be the best one. Here’s why naming a professional advisor as a co-executor is often a better option.
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If you haven’t recently reviewed your estate plan, there may be multiple reasons to do so now.
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Decanting can breathe new life into an irrevocable trust.
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If you own real estate in multiple states, consider using a revocable trust to make it easier for your beneficiaries.
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Gift-splitting can be a valuable estate planning tool, allowing spouses to maximize the amount of wealth they can transfer tax-free.
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A Crummey trust provides a limited withdrawal right for beneficiaries, while periodic contributions qualify for the gift tax annual exclusion.
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Estate planning isn’t just about what happens to your assets after you die. It’s also about protecting yourself and your loved ones. This includes having a plan for making critical medical decisions in the event you’re unable to make them yourself.
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Before deciding to own an asset jointly with your adult child, consider these pitfalls.
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The benefits of using a living trust are many. Pairing it with a pour-over will can help wrangle any loose assets that you purposely (or inadvertently) didn’t transfer to the living trust.
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Have you made your end-of-life arrangements and incorporated them into your overall estate plan?
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As a spouse and parent, you have the challenge of ensuring your spouse is provided for after your death while making certain there are assets left for your children’s inheritances. A qualified terminable interest proper (QTIP) trust may be the answer.
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Don’t miss an opportunity to claim charitable deductions when making charitable gifts. The key is understanding the IRS’s substantiation rules.
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Are you paying proper attention to beneficiary designations for your retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and other “non-probate” assets? Failing to do so can result in unintentional asset distributions or legal disputes.
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Is an irrevocable life insurance trust right for you?
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Will the IRS deem your intrafamily money transfer a loan or a gift? The devil is in the details.
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Determining whether to use a quiet trust or an incentive trust in your estate plan can be difficult. Here are the pros and cons.
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A custodial account offers a flexible way to save for your child’s future, but compare it to other options, such as education-specific savings vehicles and the new Trump Accounts.
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Familiarize yourself with the duties of an executor before accepting the position at the request of a family member or friend.
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Payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts can be simple, inexpensive tools for leaving assets to your heirs outside of probate. But are they right for all estates?
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