PORTABILITY In 2011 Congress revamped the estate and gift tax laws and legislated that the federal estate and gift tax exclusion amount was $5 million. This amount is annually adjusted for inflation; the 2015 maximum is $5.43 million. Any estate values less than this amount are excluded from estate and…
QTIP TRUSTS – WHAT IS IT? In our society, with divorces as common as it is, many people would likely benefit from a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust. The QTIP trust gives a stream of income produced from a trust to a surviving spouse. That money passes without payment…
PROTECT ASSETS FROM CREDITORS The Domestic Asset Protection Trust is becoming more and more popular lately in various jurisdictions. Alaska created the first such law, effective April 2, 1997, with Delaware’s law going into effect on July 9, 1997. Since that time, 13 additional states adopted some form of an…
GIFT TAX LIABILITY Gift tax liability and estate planning sometimes intersect. The tax Court case of Steinberg v. Commissioner, 141 T.C. No. 8 (Sept. 30, 2013) deals with an interesting issue, if tax law can ever be interesting, where gift tax liability and estate tax liability intersect. It is important…
PROPOSED RULE FOR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONALS On April 20, 2015 the Department of Labor officially published a proposed rule change in the federal register. To put the matter in dollars and cents is approximately $17 billion dollars per year, according to one estimate by the White House council of economic advisors.…
WITNESS ADVOCATE RULE In New York, as well as perhaps every other jurisdiction, an attorney may not serve as an attorney as well as a witness in the same case. Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.7 is mandatory and not permissive. It does not matter if it is a bench…
SELL NOW OR PASS ON The issue of how to deal with the collection of fine art that you amassed over the years should be dealt with now rather than allowing your heirs decide for you. Perhaps your heirs do not have any appreciation for your original Ansel Adams or…
NEW YORK TRUSTS FOR PETS Some animals are undoubtedly beloved pets. They provide us with love and companionship, while there are other animals that are more than pets. For example, horses are an investment, they are a partner in exercise, they help some children with therapy and a comrade to…
INHERITANCE RIGHTS AND OTHER RIGHTS There are many reason why people decide to adopt an adult, but there is essentially only one legal effect: the adopted child is legally treated as if they were a biological child. Most people would be right to think that the primary legal result is…
On June 24, 2015 a trial Court in California invalidated a California law as unconstitutional, which created a default surrogate decision maker when that individual is mentally incapacitated and does not have a family member, or anyone else for that matter, to make key decisions for them. The law and…