Blog Category - Trusts Page 5

Name: Strauss Attorneys PLLC
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Feb

What Not to Include in Your Estate Planning Documents

One important purpose of estate planning is to facilitate the transfer of ownership of your money and property to your family and loved ones when you pass away. For this transfer to be as stress-free and efficient as possible, it is crucial that estate planning documents be thoro...

Feb

Secure Act 2.0—Boon to Charitable Gifting?

Congress recently passed the Secure 2. 0 Act of 2022 (the “Act”); it became law on December 22, 2022. The Act is designed to encourage retirement saving and really has very little practical effect on estate planning in general, but it does contain some advantages to those who are...

Feb

Important Things to Do As You Begin 2023

January is National Mentoring Month: Three Creative Ways to Use the Estate Planning Process to Be a Mentor From Iron Man and Spiderman to the relationship between Hopper and Elle in Stranger Things, the value and importance of mentor relationships is everywhere we look. And this...

Feb

Decanting: A Powerful Tool for Disgruntled Trust Beneficiaries

“I’m the beneficiary of several trusts and I would love to be able to combine them into a single trust. ” “The trustee of my trust and I are not getting along. We’d like to go our separate ways, but the trust doesn’t provide enough flexibility in appointing a new trustee. ” “The i...

Feb

New IRS “Clawback” Regulations Have Limited Applicability to Gift Transactions

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) doubled the exemption amount available during lifetime or at death from $5 million to $10 million, inflation adjusted, until January 1, 2026. The 2022 exemption amount is $12. 06 million and will decline under current law, subject to further...

Feb

Proposed New Tax Bill Impact on Life Insurance Trusts

One of the most common tools in the estate planner’s toolbox is an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, or ILIT for short. The ILIT is useful for clients who have a life insurance policy that, if included with their other assets, would be subject to the estate tax. Consider this exa...

Feb

When States Compete for Trust Business, Clients Win!

by Andy Strauss Community property is the law in nine states (Louisiana, Arizona, California, Texas, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wisconsin) for property acquired by spouses during the marriage. While the laws differ somewhat between community property states, it ge...

Feb

Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs): How Married Couples Can Have Their Cake And Eat It, Too.

The federal estate tax exemption has never been higher than it is today. It is currently set at $11. 70 million per person (married couples can have a combined exemption of $23. 40 million), which means that a person can gift that amount, either during their life or at their death...

Feb

Interstate Moves in Estate Planning

IS YOUR ESTATE PLANNING STILL GOOD IF YOU MOVE TO A DIFFERENT STATE? Practicing estate planning law in Western North Carolina can be very busy. There has been a continuous influx of people moving to our beautiful area from all over the country, and indeed, the world. One questio...

Feb

Trust Titling (funding) and Non-Qualified Annuities

Revocable Living Trusts (referred to also just as Living Trusts) are a common foundational estate plan technique. Not only can Revocable Living Trusts replace a Will (become a “Will substitute”) in distributing property after a person dies, but these trusts also provide planning ...

Feb

Did You Know That the State Wrote a Prenuptial Agreement for You Before You Got Married?

With a well-drafted marital agreement, more assets might be protected from being spent down on nursing home care for the surviving spouse. Also, concerns about children from a previous marriage being disinherited, or other family inheritance concerns might be addressed. Both par...

Feb

Preparing for Falling Federal Estate Tax Exemptions

At the end of the year, please watch this space for our 2021 outlook letter, which will report on adjustments and changes in federal estate tax exemptions, among other estate and tax planning strategies. However, as a lead up to that, we would be remiss in not addressing and prep...

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