Uncategorized

September 16, 2016

Back To Basics: Preventing Will Contests

Every family has at least one horror story of a death in a family turning into a protracted legal tragedy well documented publicly by a probate court. An angry heir dissatisfied with their share of inheritance or a disinherited family member desperately trying to claim a stake of the predeceased’s estate contests the will and alleges a whole manner of improprieties in order to invalidate the will or one of the bequests made under it. A testator considering a future will contest can take steps to protect his or her estate from challengers and minimize the negative effects that a challenge can have.

Destroy All Previously Revoked Wills

A common occurrence in the probate court is for someone who was to inherit under an older version of a testator’s will to present the revoked copy as the testator’s true and most recent will. This can only happen though if the testator does not take proper steps to discard and make it apparent that an older will is now revoked. Writing ‘void’ or ‘revoked’ on each page of an older will or physically destroying the will shows everyone that the will is no longer valid.

April 2, 2016

REASONS FOR LEAVING AN IRA TO A TRUST VERSUS IN A WILL

by Ettinger Law Firm

NAMING A TRUST AS AN IRA BENEFICIARY IN YOUR WILL

Recently this blog touched on some of the issues related to leaving an individual retirement account to your heirs in a will, as found here. There are many options that people have to leave their IRA to others in a will. If you are leaving your IRA to heirs in your will but want to also put some protections in place regarding that IRA, leaving the IRA to a trust may be the best option. You may want to leave the IRA to a minor or to insure that the benefits of your IRA are not able to be attached by creditors. Even if your intended heir is not in need of spendthrift protections, there may still be a need to protect the IRA (and other money or property in the will) from creditors of the heir just the same.

While inherited property is generally excluded from equitable distribution in a divorce, it can still be considered income for purposes of alimony. Certain protections in the form of allowing a trustee to cut off the flow of money from the trust will insure that the beneficiary will not have to worry about this issue. Trusts are very flexible, which can allow you to build certain protections into the trust, such as choosing the trustee and giving them a free hand on distributions. If you leave the money to your heir in a will, unless the heir is a minor, in which case you will likely leave the money to a guardian, you have limited ability to insure that there will be protections put into place, since a will passes property or money outright, while a trust insures that there will be rules in place to protect the distribution of that money or liquidation of the property.

February 3, 2016

ARBITRATION CLAUSES IN WILL OR TRUST

by Ettinger Law Firm

NEW YORK RULE ON ARBITRATION FOR PROBATE DISPUTES

The idea of using quasijudicial means to settle disputes is as old as the country itself. More specifically arbitration is a method that parties utilize that is usually cheaper, quicker and often with much less formality, yet still adheres to principles of fundamental fairness. George Washington famously included a proviso in his will that outlined a method to arbitrate certain disputes in the execution of his will. Certainly this was no minor matter, as President Washington was perhaps the wealthiest landowner in Virginia and by extension maybe the wealthiest American at the time.

In today’s dollars, President Washington would be worth an estimated half a billion dollars, succeeded by perhaps only President John F. Kennedy’s wealth. By the time of President Washington’s passing in 1799, arbitration was already well established in the United States. New York no longer permits arbitration in the context of a dispute over a last will and testament, as it would unconstitutionally interfere with the power of the Surrogate’s Court to adjudicate disputes involving the disposition and transfer of property of decedents, the administration of estates and probate of wills. Matter of Jacobovitz, 58 Misc. 2d 330 (Nassau County, 1968). The same cannot be said of arbitration clauses in trust documents. There is much diversity of treatment of arbitration clauses found in trust documents, with New York taking a middle of the road approach to interpretation and enforcement of arbitration clauses in trust documents. That principle, however, only applies to the application of the transfer of property via an individual’s last will and testament. It does not apply to the mediation and adjudication of disputes in trust documents controlled by New York law.

November 21, 2015

ASSUMPTION OF POTENTIAL TAX LIABILITY MAY AFFECT ESTATE PLANNING

by Ettinger Law Firm

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 to note that the opinion deals with gift tax liability and how to measure gift tax liability, it nonetheless deals with some important estate tax implications. In 2007, Ms. Jean Steinberg gifted approximately $71,000,000 in cash and securities to her four daughters. In exchange, the daughters agreed to pay the gift taxes as well as the estate tax on the transfer should Ms. Steinberg pass away within three years of the gift transfer. An appraiser valued that the daughters assumed approximately $6,000,000 in tax liability for the estate taxes alone. When Ms. Steinberg filed her tax return, the IRS disagreed with the $6,000,000 write off, as the daughter’s assumption of estate tax liability did not increase the value of the estate. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claimed that Ms. Steinberg owed an additional approximately $2,000,000 in taxes and mailed her a notice of deficiency.

ESTATE TAX LIABILITY

October 13, 2015

Using Beneficiaries as Part of Your Estate Plan – Part II: Considerations

by Ettinger Law Firm

An earlier post on this blog provided an overview of using beneficiary designations as part of your estate plan. Recall that beneficiary designations are a way to transfer property automatically upon the death of the asset owner outside of the probate process. This post is part II of that discussion, and include some of the pros and cons of using beneficiary designations, as well as a few special considerations related to certain forms of beneficiary designations.

Pros and Cons of Using Beneficiary Designations

Beneficiary designations can be a simple and effective mechanism to transfer your property in much the same a will or trust distributes your property. The advantages of beneficiary designations include the ease in which it can be set up and the speed and in which the beneficiary receives the asset. Also, the owner of the asset has flexibility to designate any of combination of shares to any number of primary and contingent beneficiaries. Beneficiaries may be individuals, trusts, charities, or the property owner’s own estate by way of its personal representative.

May 18, 2015

Estate Planning Basics – Planning for Incapacity

by Ettinger Law Firm

While the main purpose of an estate plan is to distribute assets to your loved ones after you are gone, it can also serve an important purpose while you are alive – planning for your potential incapacity. An estate plan can provide instructions for the management of your assets, payment of expenses, and personal instructions for your care if you become unable to communicate those decisions on your own.

Importance of Planning for Incapacity

Planning for incapacity is important for everyone, but it is especially important for unmarried partners. Typically, the spouse of an incapacitated person is named as the administrator for financial, legal, and medical needs. However, unmarried partners are not always named as the administrator, and a blood relative may be named instead.

October 27, 2014

What to Do When You Inherit Your Parent’s Home

by Ettinger Law Firm

According to the Boston College Center of Wealth and Philanthropy, the Baby Boomer generation stands to inherit over $27 trillion in the United States alone over the next four decades. A large portion of that wealth is invested into your parent’s home, but when you inherit the house it can come with emotional and financial issues. When siblings are involved in the decision making process, deciding what to do with the home can be even trickier.

There are three options that you can elect after you have inherited your parents’ home: sell it, move in, or rent it. Each choice comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, emotionally and financially, for you and your siblings.

Selling the House

July 17, 2014

Estate Planning Tips for Business Owners

by Ettinger Law Firm

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 married. However, there are other concerns besides the federal estate tax that a business owner should take into account when creating an estate plan.

Other State and Federal Taxes

The estate tax should be the least of a business owner’s worries when creating an estate plan. Before an estate tax is even considered other state and federal taxes are first deducted from a business and the estate. The federal income tax rate on an equity owner of a business can top out at 44.6%. State income taxes compound the issue by charging even more on an equity owner’s share. A business owner should first try and minimize the damage done by income taxes on his estate before dealing with the possibility of an estate tax.

June 11, 2014

Lawyer Developing Online Estate Planning Game

by Ettinger Law Firm

An attorney is developing an online game aimed at teaching its players about estate planning. Stephanie Kimbro has created a demo for the game, “Estate Quest,” where the player is a detective who is given various cases about people who did not plan their estates correctly. The player is taken back in time and given clues about what the person should have done in his estate or written in his will. Examples include naming a guardian, specifying bequests to certain people, or naming an executor.

Using Crowdsourcing for Legal Products

Ms. Kimbro has been utilizing online crowdsourcing such as Rockethub as a means to develop her game. Crowdsourcing websites allow developers to explain their idea to everyone on the internet, and if people want to invest in the idea they donate money to the venture. Crowdsourcing is also a good tool for gauging interest in potential products. Ms. Kimbro is interested to learn about how crowdsourcing can be used to advance legal services projects, and she is using Estate Quest as a test product.

May 13, 2014

Putting Conditions on a Trust in New York

by Ettinger Law Firm

For many New Yorkers, the term ‘trust‘ continues to invoke visions of the super wealthy. Similarly, terms like “trust fund baby” are used to refer to spoiled, rich individuals who do no work on their own and simply live off their parents savings. The connotation is always negative.

As our estate planning attorneys often explain, however, trusts are critical tools for families of all income levels. And there is no reason why children who benefit from the trust suddenly become slovenly or without their own motivations. For one thing, many trusts are not large enough to offer income that can last a lifetime. Even when the trust is large, conditions can be placed on child-beneficiaries which can help prevent them from relying solely on an unlimited stream of income.

Incentivizing a Trust in New York