Mitch, a 25-year wirehouse veteran with $500 million in client assets in the Midwest, began considering his options for a move in 2008. He was tired of the bad press about his firm and other wirehouses and decided he was financially prepared to...
In Part 1 of this article, published in the December 2011 issue of Trusts & Estates, I examined a lawyer's duty of care to trust beneficiaries and the current product considerations facing policyholders and carriers. Now, I turn my...
Gifts to charity are a common feature of estate planning for the wealthy. Although there are myriad advantages to making lifetime gifts, many clients prefer to retain the full use of their assets during life and, therefore, postpone some or all of...
Internal Revenue Service grants extension of filing deadline for certain estates to make portability election Notice 2012-21 (Feb. 17, 2012) grants executors of certain estates a six month extension to file a federal estate tax return (Form 706)...
Self-canceling installment notes (SCINs) are often discussed, but rarely used by our clients, until now. A SCIN involves the sale of an asset (for example, a business interest or stock), typically to the seller's family members, in exchange...
In a January 2010 Trusts & Estates article entitled The Estate Planner's Guide to Product Suitability,1 I suggested that it's imperative to have a process for determining the characteristics of a life insurance policy that's well...
On Dec. 1, 2011, the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Ruling 2011-28,1 which finally clarified that a life insurance policy in an irrevocable trust isn't included in the grantor's estate if the grantor retains the right to...
In tax terms, a bargain sale is a sale to a charity for less than the fair market value (FMV) of the item being sold. These sales can be a real win-win: the charity acquires something it needs, but otherwise couldn't afford, and the donor/seller...
Many clients are planning to make large gifts before the end of 2012, to take advantage of what may be a fleeting opportunity to do so without incurring any gift tax. The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of...
While federal law remains in flux on numerous fronts, there's been a flurry of state-level developments on a number of topics. Here's an overview of some key estate-planning issues that states were focused on as we went to press. Same-Sex...
