Back in 1998, with the Internet craze in full riot, Merrill Lynch legend John Steffens, then head of the firm's private client unit, delivered a keynote address at the PC Expo in New York. What was amazing about his speech was his explicit...
The next few years will see tremendous change in the world of philanthropic planning. Non-profit entities, as well as the financial and estate-planning communities that serve them, will have to work to adapt to a number of important trends: the...
From David T. Leibell and Daniel L. Daniels of Cummings & Lockwood, LLC, Stamford, Conn., we have this update: IRS approves disclaimer of residuary estate to private foundation. In Private Letter Ruling 200519042 (released May 13), the Service...
Why is it that so many secretaries and mid-level employees believe the estate tax should be permanently repealed? How is it that the gay and lesbian community favor repeal? Why did the congressional black caucus hold a press conference denouncing...
Private non-operating foundations in recent years have faced increasing governmental scrutiny of their compliance with the Internal Revenue Code1 and evolving prudent investor standards as well as inconsistent equity market returns and low returns...
Pundits are warning that when the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPA) goes into effect this fall (Oct. 17 for most provisions), its clauses on homestead exemptions, pensions and self-settled asset protection...
Once, it was common to advise international clients to set up their tax-free trusts in one of the offshore tax havens places with sun-kissed beaches and afternoon rum breaks. No longer. Now, these international clients should seriously consider...
Modern life creates some distasteful situations. Marriages fail. Wealthy clients want to cut off estranged wives and husbands. Or there's a remarriage and a desire to leave more to the children than to the second wife. Or, a surviving spouse's...
The impact of decisions that planners make about GRATs in transferring wealth can now be more precisely quantified. Advances in quantitative modeling and capital-markets forecasting allow us to evaluate the interactions among the moving parts that...
The Internet provides a wide variety of websites that present resources useful for the various aspects of estate plan preparation, including planned giving, understanding and implementing planned giving techniques, the operation of public...
