See the latest roadmap on wealth planning strategies for charitable donations, insurance, charity and more.
For more wealth planning news subscribe to the free Estate Planner e-newsletter, delivered weekly. Join today.
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...
The Terry Schiavo case incited passionate debate about a number of different issues. While opponents squared off on emotionally charged topics like quality of life and the government's proper role in such an event, there was unanimous support for...
Ask the typical financial advisor if he provides advanced-planning services, and you are likely to receive an affirmative reply 99 percent of the time. This speaks succinctly to the industry's misconceptions about advanced planning. It is not a...
On June 20, all professionals who practice before the Internal Revenue Service and provide tax opinions must change the way they do business. On that date, the now infamous Circular 230 goes into effect, with compliance language so broad it...
For the fourth time in as many years, the House of Representatives voted on April 13 to repeal the federal estate tax. If what Republicans deride as the death tax survives, it'll be because once again cooler heads prevail in the Senate. Many...
The Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedure 2005-25 on April 8, providing additional guidance on determining the fair market value (FMV) of a life insurance contract distributed by a qualified plan or an employer. We have this report...
On March 30, the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedure 2005-24 adding significant new rules to charitable remainder trust planning. From David T. Leibell and Daniel L. Daniels of Cummings & Lockwood LLC in Stamford, Conn., we have this...
Many wealthy clients and owners of closely held businesses need to acquire a substantial amount of life insurance to provide liquidity to pay for their estate taxes. Life insurance provides substantial cash shortly after death, which is needed to...