Category Archives: Estate Planning

“…researchers and medical staff working with patients near the end of life have grown increasingly disenchanted with advance directives, including living wills and powers of attorney for health care.”

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“The Nebraska Supreme Court held that general principles of the duties of a trustee, as enunciated in Nebraska state statutes, overrule a specific article in the trust which exonerated the trustee from paying any premiums or being responsible for the payment of life insurance premiums.”

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“Grantor trust sale transactions, like installment sales, self-canceling installment notes (“SCINS”) and private annuities, have been consistently used as legacy management and business succession planning tools.  In recent internal guidance and estate tax audits, however, the IRS has rejected some generally accepted approaches to conducting these transactions….”

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“The increased gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions provide greater opportunities to benefit future generations during life. Clients with a more modest net worth, however, need transfer planning options that balance a desire to make lifetime gifts with the need to retain adequate funds to support their needs.  A spousal lifetime access trust (a so-called “SLAT”) may provide one such option.”

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“If you have just gotten divorced, you may be focused on getting on with your life. But make sure you also have updated the financial arrangements that kick in at your death.”

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“The Administration’s proposed tax rate increases would significantly alter the investment and planning behavior of HNWIs, potentially increasing the need for planning to mitigate and manage income tax liabilities….These proposals only reflect a Presidential “wish list” for future tax legislation and cannot take effect without Congressional approval, which may be difficult to achieve with a Republican-controlled Congress.”

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“A lawyer’s institute takes a more personal approach to trusts, encouraging clients to craft them in a way that is not destructive to beneficiaries.”

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“Originally an oral tradition to pass on wisdom from a family patriarch or matriarch, ethical wills today are more likely to be videos or Facebook pages.”

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“IF there is a boogeyman when it comes to family conversations about inheritance, it is not death. That happens whether people talk about financial plans or not. It’s the $40 trillion that financial advisers say their baby boomer clients are going to pass to their children either in an orderly way — or in a chaotic mess.”

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“What’s wrong with inherited wealth?  First, let’s consider why parents leave bequests to their children. I believe that this decision is based on three principles”

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