Posted On: April 13th 2018
If you own an interest in a family-owned or other closely held business, a buy-sell agreement should be a key component of your estate plan. These agreements specify whether — and under what circumstances — owners’ interests may be transferred, ensuring that the business stays in the family and meeting other important estate and succession…
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Posted On: April 11th 2018
No one wants to contemplate their own mortality or that of a loved one. It’s one of the reasons people tend to procrastinate when it comes to estate planning. And for people whose life expectancies are short — because they’re terminally ill or advanced in age — planning can be even more difficult. But while…
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Posted On: April 2nd 2018
IRAs and employer-sponsored plans such as 401(k)s are powerful retirement savings tools, but they also provide valuable estate planning benefits. If you hold a traditional IRA for life, for example, your children or other heirs can stretch out distributions over their lifetimes, maximizing the IRA’s tax-deferred growth and preserving more wealth for the family. If,…
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Posted On: March 26th 2018
For a variety of estate planning and asset management purposes, many affluent families hold their assets in trusts, family investment vehicles or charitable foundations. If assets held in this manner include interests in hedge funds, private equity funds or other “unregistered” securities, it’s important to ensure that the entity is qualified to hold such investments….
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Posted On: March 20th 2018
A financial power of attorney — sometimes called a “power of attorney for property” or a “general power of attorney” — can be a valuable estate planning tool. The main disadvantage is that it’s susceptible to abuse by scam artists, dishonest caretakers or greedy relatives. Help or Harm The most common type is the…
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Posted On: March 12th 2018
If your estate plan includes one or more trusts, you may have a good reason for wanting to keep them a secret. For example, you may be concerned that, if your children or other beneficiaries knew about the trust, they might spend recklessly or neglect educational or career pursuits. Despite your good intentions, however, the…
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Posted On: March 9th 2018
The “sandwich generation” accounts for a large segment of the population. These are people who find themselves caring for both their children and their parents at the same time. In some cases, this includes providing parents with financial support. As a result, estate planning — which traditionally focuses on providing for one’s children — has…
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Posted On: March 5th 2018
If you’re planning on buying a home that you one day wish to pass on to your adult children, a joint purchase can reduce estate tax liability, provided the children have sufficient funds to finance their portion of the purchase. With the gift and estate tax exemption now set at an inflation-adjusted $10 million thanks…
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Posted On: March 1st 2018
If reducing your taxable estate is an important estate planning goal, making lifetime charitable donations can help achieve that goal and benefit your favorite organizations. In addition, by making donations during your lifetime, rather than at death, you can claim income tax deductions. But some of your charitable deductions could be denied if you don’t…
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Posted On: February 12th 2018
S corporations must comply with several strict requirements or risk losing their tax-advantaged status. Among other things, they can have no more than 100 shareholders and only one class of stock. They are, as well, permitted to have only certain types of shareholders. In an estate planning context, it’s critical that any trusts that will…
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