by Christine | Aug 15, 2014 | Estate Planning, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) |
A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court holding that assets contained in an inherited individual retirement account (IRA) don’t qualify as retirement funds for the purposes of bankruptcy exemption, has turned the estate planning community on its head. Prior to a recent US...
by Christine | Aug 14, 2014 | Estate Plan, Estate Planning, Trusts |
Your estate plan is only as good as the people who implement it. When heirs aren’t competent, don’t pay attention to details, or they can decide to pursue their own interests, and disaster can ensue. The latest case involves the Walt Disney estate. "If you...
by Christine | Aug 13, 2014 | Digital Assets, Digital Estate Planning, Estate Planning |
Recently,the Uniform Law Commission drafted the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, a model law that would let relatives access the social media accounts of the deceased. Digital estate planning has become a hot button issue in estate planning and...
by Christine | Aug 12, 2014 | Divorce, Estate Plan |
A scenario commonly encountered within estate planning is when an individual dies while negotiating a separation agreement with their spouse, or when in the midst of divorce proceedings. While a divorce order will void specific bequests to a spouse, merely...
by Christine | Aug 11, 2014 | Estate Planning, Estate Tax |
Lee is a legendary figure in South Korea as the man who turned Samsung Electronics into a powerful conglomerate. He is also the country's richest man with an estimated net worth of US$11.4 billion. Under Korean inheritance law, an heir will have to pay 50 percent...
by Christine | Aug 5, 2014 | Digital Assets, Digital Estate Planning, Estate Plan |
No matter what steps you take or what laws are eventually passed, managing a digital estate for a loved one will always be a long, arduous, and painful process. Digital estate planning is popping up in the news more and more as people are trying to figure out how to...
by Christine | Aug 4, 2014 | Estate Plan, Probate, Wills |
If Lou Reed had used a revocable living trust, and transferred his assets into the trust during his life, then all of this information would have been kept private. No one would know how much he had, whom he left it to, or how much his executors were charging....
by Christine | Aug 1, 2014 | Estate Planning, Family Limited Partnership |
Family limited partnerships seem like an almost foolproof idea: A client can shield just about any amount of money from creditors while maintaining full control of the assets, and getting tax advantages to boot. But they’re not for everyone, and there can be serious...
by Christine | Jul 31, 2014 | Estate Plan, Estate Planning |
After graduating from college, and even law school, the thought of drafting your estate plan probably did not make the top twenty on your "to-do" list, and why should it? The only thing most young professionals have when they first start out is debt....
by Christine | Jul 30, 2014 | Estate Plan, Estate Planning, Will Contest, Wills |
Three years and two trials later, the will remains the subject of a fierce probate fight in Sacramento Superior Court. Lawyers for the stepson and O’Brien’s brother have challenged the will as a fraud. They contend O’Brien didn’t have the mental capacity...
