A client who is considering a second (or third or more) marriage often has more complicated estate planning needs than a single client or a client who has been married only once. A premarital agreement can be key to protecting a client's assets, but the attorney must make sure the agreement is integrated with the client's estate plan. At the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys' 2010 Elder and Special Needs Law Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year, Virginia estate planning attorney Martin J. Ganderson discussed how to plan for a second marriage and outlined the various estate…
Only 0.6 percent of those dying in the U.S. in 2008 owed any estate tax, according to new data released by the IRS. This means that 99.4 percent of estates were too small to pay an estate tax, which the Republican party and some wealthy individuals have been fighting to repeal entirely.
Parents should consider the possibility of leaving their retirement benefits to children without disabilities and leave other assets—cash, stocks, real estate, insurance, etc.— to the special needs trust. Leaving non-retirement assets to the special needs trust avoids the unsatisfactory consequences associated with the shorter pay-out required when the special needs trust names an older contingent beneficiary or where the parents would like to name a charity as a beneficiary of the trust. The retirement funds left to the children without disabilities can be stretched out to the extent permitted by law, and more of the favorable tax treatment and opportunities…
Do not name your special needs child directly as a beneficiary of a retirement plan if your child receives or may later need SSI, Medicaid, or other benefits such as Section 8 assistance or food stamps. The distributions from the retirement account will either reduce the entitlements or eliminate them entirely. Instead, if you want your child to receive your retirement benefits, the named beneficiary on the account can be the special needs trust for your child. Even so, this trust should contain special provisions not typically found in special needs trusts to insure the most favorable stretch-out and tax…
The number of opposite-sex couples living together jumped 13% this year to 7.5 million, according to an article I read this week in USA Today. In fact, researchers estimate that half of all married couples now live together before they get married. Why? Some blame the sluggish job market, but others suggest that couples who choose to live together frequently do so to avoid what they consider “legal hassles,” especially those associated with a potential break-up. However, the truth is that for unmarried couples who break-up, the fall-out can be worse than a messy divorce. USA Today suggests that unmarried…
Strategic use of life insurance frequently is a key aspect of comprehensive estate planning, solving a wide variety of estate planning challenges from providing liquidity to pay estate taxes, to charitable bequests and ensuring the continuation of a closely-held business. One of the key characteristics of life insurance, however, making it such a versatile estate planning tool, is preferential tax treatment. Properly structured, life insurance proceeds pass tax-free to beneficiaries, and earnings on investments held within certain types of “permanent” life insurance also generally accrue tax-free. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, there is some national…
I ran across an article at New Jersey online last week with advice about how to pick a team of professional financial advisors. I was pleased to see the writer included estate planning attorneys as part of your essential advisory team! I also thought some of their tips for choosing an attorney were worth passing along: Think about your needs and then find an attorney who specializes in meeting them. For example, if you have elder-care issues, or tax concerns, find an attorney who is experienced at resolving issues similar to yours. Visit the websites of some of the professional…
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