America currently has 72 million people from the Baby Boomer generation, the oldest of which are turning sixty-eight this year. That is also the average age when people decide to create charitable remainder trusts. Estate planning attorneys are expecting a big increase in the number of charitable trusts set up…
In an interesting twist of events this week, court documents show that the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman left his entire estate to his girlfriend, Mimi O’Donnell. Hoffman died earlier this year at the age of forty-six of a heroin overdose at his home in New York City. He left behind…
Most people feel a sense of accomplishment after drafting and executing an estate plan. Afterwards, it is commonplace to file away the paperwork and promptly forget about the documents. The issue in this is that most people’s lives change between the creation of an estate plan, and it will need…
Many people, business owners and everyone else, are concerned about the federal estate tax when creating their estate plans. Although the federal estate tax is 40%, it does not apply unless the decedent has an estate worth over $5.34 million, and the estate amount is doubled if the person is…
In late 2012, the government threatened to make steep cuts in the levels of exemption for gift and estate taxes. At the time, the gift tax exemption was set to drop from $5.1 million to $1 million, and the top tax rate was to rise from 35% to 55%. As…
Parents who are now at retirement age think that they have done a great job discussing finances and estate plans with their children. However, their children think the exact opposite about the situation. According to a new study done by the Fidelity Investments Intra-Family Generational Finance Study, this is the…
The late lead singer and guitarist of The Velvet Underground, who later had a decades-long successful solo career, was the man who famously sang “Hey babe, let’s take a walk on the wild side.” He seemed to take that lyric to heart when it came to his estate planning, and…
People entering retirement age are now facing an unexpected hurdle – dealing with the pitfalls from their parents’ reverse mortgage. The same loans that were supposed to be helping their elderly parents stay in their homes are now pushing the children out of them. In fact, the same situation is…
Planning for retirement can be difficult; however, if you also plan on leaving money to heirs in your estate plan the process can be even more complex. Deciding which financial accounts should be tapped first for retirement funds and which should be left for inheritance purposes is a tricky question.…
If you have accrued some wealth in your lifetime, have a significant life insurance policy, or simply want to look out for the best interests of your children the idea of incorporating a trust into your estate plan may have been suggested. A trust fund places assets into trust, run…