Wealth Planning

The hot news at 2009’s largest gathering of estate-planning lawyers was not about the law. At the 2009 Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning’s opening session discussing recent developments, Dennis I. Belcher of Virgina’s...

Most estate-planning attorneys come across clients who want to attach some sort of condition on gifts they make to descendants and other beneficiaries

If you cater to high-net-worth clients, they have probably already made significant investments in property and casualty (P&C) insurance to protect tangible assets like property, art, yachts and antique collections.

Economic uncertainties and the full weight of a bear market have many Americans reeling. The squeeze is on for workers: They can't borrow against their homes (that is, those who still have homes). Their credit card limits are being lowered. Yet...

Clients are often more global than their U.S. advisors. But we can change that. Here are some key trends in trusts and estates internationally: Trusts are gaining ground; family business succession advice is in high demand; family offices are...

We are not sounding an alarm that there will be a collapse of charitable giving in 2009. Clearly, conditions are ripe for both an economic and philanthropic breakdown. We may suffer a worst-case scenario: the Dow Jones Industrial Average declining...

The evil eye of Congress, much like the eye in The Lord of the Rings, is focusing on Middle Earth and Middle Earth is us. Rumors abound about the details of massive new tax legislation. We will see the much-awaited new law probably in October of...

The economic crisis is hitting the family offices of America's wealthy. Expect closings of both single family offices (SFOs) and multi-family offices (MFOs). Those that were just hanging on before the economic crisis won't survive. Even the well...

Elder law experienced no cataclysms in 2008. But significant trends emerged and public benefits planning continued to mature. First, the good news: Medicaid asset protection is being extended, state by state, to same sex couples. Also, all states...