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Estate planning is concerned with the use, conservation and disposition of a person’s property and wealth. This involves two elements: (1) minimizing the gift or estate tax consequences that occur when a person’s property is passed to another either during life or at death; and (2) provisions for taking care of the decedent’s spouse and [...]
As its name implies, in a GRAT, you, the grantor, retain the right to an annuity for a fixed period of years from assets you’ve placed into a trust.
By Parag P. Patel, Esq. During our lifetime, most of us strive to create and build upon our net worth. We generate savings, purchase a home, and eventually invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, IRAs and retirement plans. Unfortunately, most of us risk losing an unnecessarily large amount of these assets by failing to plan [...]
Every storm eventually comes to an end…Now is the time to gift.
1. Business and real estate values may be down as much as 20% since last year at this time. This creates opportunities for transferring the business, stock or assets to children or key employees at significantly less tax cost than prior years. The transferor will use less of their lifetime annual gift exemption of $1.0 [...]
Most people know that they should have an estate plan in place; however, making estate planning a priority is difficult even in the best of times, let alone during times of financial crisis. While the benefits of estate planning are well known – including providing for your family and friends, avoiding probate, reducing estate [...]
According to census bureau statistics, nearly half of married couples will at some time go through a divorce. If you are going through the divorce process, you’ve got a lot of company.
So, do you need a new will? What does the process of divorce do to your estate plan?
You need to remember that in New [...]