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Forestalling Forties Follies
Beware of Pre-Oct. 22, 1942 general powers of appointment. Are assets subject to a general power of appointment (GPOA) includible in the powerholder’s estate? Yes, of course. Easy one. Right?...
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Evaluating the Benefits and Risks of Qualified Opportunity Zones
Understanding the investment component and potential estate-planning considerations is critical. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 added Internal Revenue Code Section 1400Z, which created a new...
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Fractional Gifts of Art
Reducing capital gains taxes with charitable remainder trusts. In last month’s issue, we wrote about the related use test for getting full fair market value (FMV) deductions for appreciated artworks;...
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Roth IRA Conversion Sweet Spot
A tax-saving opportunity for married taxpayers with taxable income under $320,000. Many taxpayers are benefiting from the lower income tax rates generated by The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. But,...
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Unlikely Trust Beneficiaries Shouldn’t Affect Required Minimum Distributions
A fix is needed. Tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as individual retirement accounts and tax-qualified employer-sponsored retirement accounts, must make required minimum distributions (RMDs),...
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QBI Planning Meets Retirement Planning
Issues to address with clients who want the best of both. After reviewing a 2018 tax return we’d just prepared, the client called and asked if it was still worth it for her to contribute to her...
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Decanting Trusts to Remove Unwanted Beneficiaries
Keep assets in the individual retirement account for as long as possible. It’s generally beneficial to keep assets in individual retirement accounts for as long as possible because IRAs provide...
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Designating Beneficiaries of Retirement Accounts
Practical tips to simplify the process. One of the most troublesome, anxiety-producing and perhaps least profitable areas of the modern estate-planning practice is planning properly for the ultimate...
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Post-Mortem Planning for Botched Beneficiary Designations
Recent private letter rulings highlight some opportunities. It’s an all too common occurrence: During the administration of a decedent’s estate, it becomes apparent that the decedent completed a...
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The Transfer Tax Playbook
The four ways to pass on wealth free of gift and estate taxes. Taxpayers and their advisors often find themselves chopping through the tall grass of complex estate-planning structures and devices when...
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A Taxing Dilemma
Encouraging clients to take advantage of the increased exemption. For taxable gifts made after 2017 and for estates of decedents dying after 2017, the exclusion from the U.S. gift and estate tax has...
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Team Culture
Achieving the 5Cs of teaming and value-add for clients. Rapid and persistent advances in technology are increasingly threatening the traditional role of financial advisors, estate planners and allied...
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From the Legal Bar to the Health Bar
The greatest (and least discussed) internal and external threat to an estate plan and our careers. Almost 10 years ago, I met with an elderly and very successful new client who today is one of my...
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California’s New Decanting Statute
Is it a welcome addition to the state’s trust law that other states may want to adopt? California recently enacted its decanting statute. The new law allows an authorized fiduciary to modify the terms...
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Trust Drafting With the End in Mind
Provisions that can complement or crash terminations or modifications. Drafting a trust can be like building an airplane.1 Each has many components that must be designed to reach the desired result....
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Making (or Not Making) the Case for Domestication of a Non-U.S. Trust
Different factors that could tip the scales. In the past few years, there’s been an increased use of the United States as a place to govern the administration of trusts. This is largely driven by the...
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Medicare: The Next Frontier
One of the most complex steps taken by new retirees. Financial and estate planners have received the message about the importance of helping clients make sound decisions on timing their Social...
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Signs Your Client Has Dementia
Why it matters and what to do. It’s no secret that the population of the United States is aging. The population of the United States over the age of 65 is expected to double from 46 million...
View ArticleJuly 2019 Issue
Program Trusts & Estates Primary category Trusts & Estates Publish Date Jun 28, 2019 Gating level paid premium Promote in Site List Promote in RSS: Promote in Google News: Syndicate: Target...
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To Gift or Not to Gift?
The factors and variables your client should consider. To gift or not to gift, that is the question.1 To not gift means keeping the asset or doing something to cause it to be included in an estate for...
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