by Christine | Jul 25, 2013 | Estate Planning, LIfe Insurance, Trusts |
Are the proceeds of life insurance policies owned first by a taxpayer’s wife and then owned by a family trust, includible in a taxpayer’s gross estate? The estate tax is currently set at a generous level, with married couples able to protect up to $10.5 million...
by Christine | Jul 17, 2013 | Estate Planning, Estates, Pet Trust, Trusts, Wills |
Why do otherwise doting pet parents fail to make such plans? Most people assume they’ll outlive their pets, says Barry Seltzer, a Toronto-based estate lawyer and co-author of Fat Cats & Lucky Dogs: How to Leave (Some of) Your Estate to Your Pet. And death and...
by Christine | Jul 9, 2013 | Estate Law, Estate Planning, Trusts |
When Juliann Reynolds' husband died of cancer in 1992, she had to decide how to plan her own estate … Reynolds is one of a growing number of parents who are requiring their heirs to wait until they are older before they can collect their inheritances. When...
by Christine | Jul 3, 2013 | Estate Planning, Trusts |
Americans were once trust-happy. Now many are having second thoughts, and rightly so. How irrevocable is the so-called irrevocable trust? Well, many people are ready to find out as they consider changes to their trusts now that ATRA 2012 is in the mix. Forbes recently...
by Christine | Jun 18, 2013 | Estate Planning, Inheritance, Trusts |
Many wealthy people worry about the potentially corrosive effect of making their children superrich. Not Larry Ellison. The Oracle founder and CEO, the third richest man in the United States — worth $43 billion, according to FORBES’ latest estimates — has never...
by Christine | Jun 6, 2013 | Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills |
Circumstances change over the course of a lifetime—and your documents need to keep pace. Grandchildren enter the picture, as do second spouses and sons-in-law. Estate and gift tax exclusion limits move up and down. When you create your estate plan, it is important...