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A Look Back at Life InsuranceA Look Back at Life Insurance

Life insurance is a confusing topic in and of itself. Start a conversation about life insurance at your next cocktail party and see what happens. The subject is guaranteed to cause eyes to glaze over, even among many professionals. To rid some of that glaze from your eyes, here's an overview of four significant issues that emerged last year within the context of life insurance. We'll discuss the effects

16 Min Read
Wealth Management logo in a gray background | Wealth Management

Richard L. Harris & Melvin A. Warshaw

Life insurance is a confusing topic in and of itself. Start a conversation about life insurance at your next cocktail party and see what happens. The subject is guaranteed to cause eyes to glaze over, even among many professionals.

To rid some of that glaze from your eyes, here's an overview of four significant issues that emerged last year within the context of life insurance. We'll discuss the effects of: 1) the 2010 Tax Act on your client's current insurance needs; 2) a Delaware Supreme Court ruling that's contrary to earlier decisions; 3) changes in product availability and pricing; and 4) the rising popularity of premium finance.

Post-2010 Tax Act

At first blush, affluent clients (those with an indi...

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About the Authors

Richard L. Harris

Greenberg & Rapp Financial Group

Richard L. Harris is the managing member of Richard L. Harris LLC, a life insurance sales and consulting firm devoted to helping the very wealthy and their professional advisors deal with issues regarding life insurance. He works as a back office life insurance expert for many accountants, attorneys, and trust officers. With 40 years experience, Richard is a nationally recognized expert in the very advanced areas of life insurance. He brings together expertise and cutting edge ideas in designing and implementing solutions incorporating life insurance that integrate and address the issues at hand. Apart from acting as a life insurance strategist and purchasing agent for life insurance for the very wealthy, he is often consulted about fixing or improving advanced strategies using life insurance that have become problematic because of legislation, poor performance, or change in circumstances. Richard consults on proposed advanced strategies using life insurance providing second opinions on the viability of the transactions. He also provides litigation support both forensically and strategically and serves as an expert witness regarding sophisticated life insurance transactions. Richard is a graduate of Long Island University where he majored in Accounting and Literature. He holds the professional designations of Chartered Life Underwriter, Registered Trust and Estate Practitioner, and Accredited Estate Planner. He is Chair of the Insurance Committee of Trusts & Estates Magazine, on the Editorial Advisory Board of Wealth Strategies Journal, a Contributing Editor to Private Wealth Magazine and is listed in Who's Who in Finance and Industry. He also serves on the Board of the Northern New Jersey Society of Financial Services Professionals and the Advisory Board of HighCap Financial.

Melvin A. Warshaw

Melvin A. Warshaw, Esq. is an international cross-border tax and private client lawyer based in Massachusetts. He is an ACTEC Fellow, an Academician of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law and a member of the International Practice committee of the editorial board of Trusts and Estates.