By-pass trust

This is the time of year for graduations and we are proud that our youngest daughter graduated from Williams College.  We are also relieved of our obligation to write those tuition checks twice a year.  As an estate planning attorney I realize that the last college graduation means our estate plan needs to be updated. [...]

I just returned from three days in Grapevine, Texas getting trained on the latest features of WealthCounsel software and the latest changes in Estate Planning. The change I am bringing back to my practice is the use of Standalone Retirement Trusts to hold retirement assets. WealthCounsel has developed a trust that can hold a retirement [...]

Estate planning is not just for retirees.  Summer is a busy time in the office for completing wills of young parents.  Planning a summer vacation forces parents to think about who would look after their children if they both perished in an airplane or car accident. The first step of the will is to name [...]

This year’s temporary repeal of the Federal Estate Tax has created a new set of problems for those inheriting appreciated assets.  Amy Feldman details these problems in her article “Trouble For Heirs” found in the April 25, 2010 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.  There is no Federal Estate Tax in 2010, but stepped-up basis of assets [...]

1. Tax Savings – A trust established by the first spouse to die effectively doubles the estate tax exemption. For 2009 the Federal exemption is $3.5 million and the state exemption is $1 million in Maryland. 2. Keep the money in the family – The first spouse to die leaves the money for the survivor [...]

Many of you have seen your estate values cut in half or more while the Federal Estate tax minimum has gone from $2 million to $3.5 million. The feeling is that you do not need to do any estate planning. The problem is that you do not know what the law will be at the [...]