Thursday, April 19, 2012 Whitney Houston's Will -- What We Learn From It
Forget about the inheritance tax issues on an estimated $20 Million estate. Whitney Houston's will was done in 1993 when her estate likely was much smaller. The will was one small click above a simple will in that it left the estate to her only child (now age 19) in a trust. The trust will gives her daughter 10 % when she reaches age 21, one-sixth at age 25, and the entire balance at age 30. Let's hope she doesn't have divorce problems or creditor problems when the distributions occur. From news reports, her daughter is having a hard time with her mom's death and drug use may be involved. Will the inheritance help or hurt?
An updated plan could have made adjustments for the growing size of her wealth, the inheritance tax problem, and the issue of giving wealth to a daughter who may not be ready for such a gift. We use lifetime trusts in our firm with a Special Needs Trust included in case our beneficiary is disabled, addicted to drugs, alcohol, or gambling. For more, click on this link: http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=9770&Section=4&state==
Monday, April 16, 2012 Long Term Care Insurance Woes
10 of the top 20 long term care insurance companies have left the market. This includes companies like Prudential, Unum, and MetLife. See: http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=9783§ion=4.
Others companies have taken a diffrent route in meeting higher than expected claims being made under the policies: raise rates. Of course, they have to ask the insurance commission in the various states for permission to raise rates, but they are getting big increases approved. The Sun-Times reported on a 65 and 69 year old couple getting a 90% rate increase. many have seen increase from 20 - 50%. For more on this topic, see: http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=9783§ion=4.
If you cannot afford long trem care insurance (a product we think most should consider), see us here at the Elder Law Resource Center. We have answers to the question, "How do I pay for long term care without going broke?"
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Family Limited Partnerships
Many clients have formed Family Limited Partnerships (FLP) for reasons that deal with keeping a farm or business in a family. Others do it to gain a certain amount of asset protection from potential divorces and lawsuits against their beneficiaries. There are some wonderful estate tax benefits to be obtained as well. In recent years, some clients have found their real estate to contain valuable oil and gas interests below, and they see FLP protections as well.
The IRS has challenged many FLPs where they were formed incorrcetly, or where they were operated improperly (like using FLP assets to pay for personal, non-business expenses). Happliy for the taxpayers, the IRS has lost many of these challenges. Trusts & Estates Magazine highlights a recent case that illustrates why the IRS loses and the taxpayer wins. Click on http://trustsandestates.com/wealth_watch/solid_as_stone/?NL=TE-02&Issue=TE-02_20120328_TE-02_994&YM_RID=rudnitsky@rudnitskyhackman.com&YM_MID=1301131
Monday, February 27, 2012 The President's Tax Proposals
Each year, the President proposes a budget to fund the govenment and express that administration's policies on income and estate taxes. This month, President Obama sent his proposed budget to Congress. News reports gave us the highlights, but there are some lesser known provisions of interest to estate planners, financial advisors, and the like. I found a nice summary at the website of Duane Morris, a Philadelphia law firm. It's a nice two page summary that I hope will be helpful to you. Click here: http://www.duanemorris.com/alerts/obama_administration_2013_budget_proposal_income_tax_transfer_tax_provisions_4375.html
Monday, January 09, 2012 Name Guardians for the kids NOW.
Here's great New Year's resolution for you and for your clients: Name Guardians for the kids NOW. So many of us put this off because we think it won't happen to us. But, it happens. It's reported in our newspapers all the time. Even young parents can get sick and die, or be the victim of a deadly crash. That's what happened to one of our firm's clients last fall at age 49. Some put it off because mom and dad can't agree on who to name. If you can't agree, a court will decide for you and who it pselects may not be who you would want.
A colleage in Virginia, Evan Farr, has a blog about this. Read that by cicking this link: http://blog.virginiaelderlaw.com/
Wednesday, October 05, 2011 Don't Bequeath a Digital Delay
Being tech savy, we use passwords that are clever and not easy for bad people to figure out. Right? Experts suggest we use a memorable sentence that has numbers and capitals in it. For example, "I got my pound puppy Jake at age 2" becomes "IgmppJaa2." Got it! But, what happens if you get very sick or die?
Digital delay comes when your executor or trustee cannot access your bank account, investment account and the like because she can't locate your passwords. Do you keep them written down where they will be found? We have suggested to our clients that they write them down and put them in a sealed envelope kept with their estate planning documents. We recently came upon a very good article on this published for the ABA. Click here to read it: http://apps.americanbar.org/lpm/lpt/articles/ftr03103.shtml Monday, September 19, 2011 Medicaid at Age 67?
Among the compromises being discussed in Congress is the raising of the age to qualify for Medicare to age 67. Turns out the nations hospitals would receive more reimbursement under private insurers than they recive from Medicare and, therefore, have turned to their lobbyists to argue for this as a way to help them and help the solvency of the program. For more on this, click on this link: http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=9394§ion=4 Tuesday, September 06, 2011 Legal Zoom Settles the Case Last month, we wrote about a lawsuit of interest to attorneys and do-it-yourselfers. Legal Zoom was sued for practicing law without a license in the state of Missouri. The case has settled rather quickly and one might suppose Legal Zoom wanted no part of being required to produce a lot of written communications and give depositions. As lawsuits progress, lawyers get to ask a lot of questions that some may not want to answer. For more on the story, click on this link: http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=8355&Section=4&state=%20 |