There's some good news in the ongoing war with the Internal Revenue Service over family limited partnership (FLP) discounts: IRS agents are settling practically all of the cases and even most of the ones. That means it pays to know how to...

Preparing your clients for retirement may mean helping them prepare their parents too.

Many older clients still have mortgages. How to advise them on whether to retire this debt

The Delaware Chancery Court has developed a unique approach to an appraisal issue that has dogged estate and gift tax valuations of subchapter S corporations ever since a string of controversial Tax Court cases earlier this decade. In Delaware...

Too many clients fail to insure their collections, often because they don't want to create records of their valuables' worth; sometimes because they just don't get around to it.

Real estate has been the fastest appreciating investment for many people during the past several years. With interest rates rising, however, recently there has been a softening of the real estate market in many parts of the country. Some...

There are many strategies that a professional advisor can use to help clients exit from planned gifts. All require a clear understanding of the partial interest rule. PARTIAL INTEREST The general rule is that a gift of a partial interest is not...

As Election Day 2006 approaches, state politicians increasingly set their sights on a familiar political enemy: taxes. While all taxes make popular targets, this year state estate taxes are attracting heightened attention. In her state-of-the...

Some advisors have long ignored parts of ERISA when consulting participants of 401(k) plans. Now they don't have to. Still, the Street is confused over what the new pension laws really mean when it comes to reirement advice