Estate Planning
Special Needs Trusts
A Special Needs Trust (SNT) is a trust set up for the benefit of someone with a disability. Trusts must be irrevocable with no written requirement that the beneficiary receives the income from trust assets to qualify as an SNT. Technically, there are two types of SNT’s. The vast majority of SNT’s are Supplemental Care…
Read MoreComparing Popular Grantor Trusts
[Readers unfamiliar with Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs) are recommended to read the IDGT article in this Estate Planning section before reading this article.] Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) and Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs) are similar trusts used primarily to transfer privately held businesses and income producing property to future generations. Both are grantor…
Read MoreExecutors
A critical issue for people in the estate planning process is the selection of people to handle their affairs when they die or become incapacitated. The key positions to be filled include executors, trustees, and guardians. This paper identifies what these people do, how to select them, items to consider, and legalities associated with the…
Read MoreFamily Trusts
Family Revocable Trusts Family Trust describes a trust (sometimes called a Deed of Trust or Trust Deed) in which the beneficiaries are all related by blood, marriage, or adoption. The Family Trust can be revocable or irrevocable, though the revocable version is more common. This article will focus on revocable living trust as the key…
Read MoreLife Insurance: Giving It Away
Many people desire to make large charitable gifts during their lifetime but hesitate due to concerns about compromising their family’s financial security. Life insurance can help alleviate these concerns by enabling the donor to give to his/her favorite charity while providing for the donor’s heirs and beneficiaries. One common technique employs a life insurance policy,…
Read MoreIntentionally Defective Grantor Trusts
While the name intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT) may sound like an odd name for a powerful estate tax reduction technique, it is very descriptive. Trusts are subject to multiple forms of taxation. Two specific forms are estate taxes and income taxes. Estate taxes are assessed upon death. Income taxes are annual events. When one…
Read MoreLife Insurance in Trusts
Life insurance trusts are a key tool for estate planning attorneys. Trusts enable donors to pass capital from a donor to his/her heirs at an enormous transfer tax savings. Policies held in trusts are not included in a donor’s estate, thereby reducing the estate tax liability. Proceeds from the life insurance policies can be, but…
Read MorePrivate Annuities
A private annuity is a means of transferring an asset from its current owner to a preferred future owner. Its common use is to transfer ownership of a privately held company or an investment property to the future generation of owner-manager. The mechanism for the transfer is relatively simple, though it comes with multiple requirements,…
Read MorePrivate Foundations
When people make philanthropy a part of their lives, and their estate plans, they have choices in how and to whom they donate. Most people opt to contribute to a public charity, be it a church, university, or a service-oriented charity such as the American Diabetes Association or United Way. Some choose to establish their…
Read MoreQPRT
A QPRT is an estate planning tool to gift a house from parents to children at a discounted value. This irrevocable grantor trust has temporarily fallen out of favor due to the substantial increase in the estate exemption due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. If the estate tax exemption reverts to…
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