Take-Away: As we continue to help clients understand their estate plans, it is important to keep in mind that often a named beneficiary will disclaim, or sometimes release, an interest in an estate, trust, or beneficiary designation. Knowing the distinction between a disclaimer and release is critical when you factor the gift tax consequences into […]

Earlier this morning I provided a short update on 529 accounts and how the law was expanded to permit distributions from 529 accounts to pay some K through 12 expenses, not to exceed $10,000 in a year. That update triggered a couple of follow up questions, which I will try to address: Michigan Maximum Balance: […]

Take-Away: We already know that IRC 529 higher education accounts are a great way to save for the expense of a college education which, according to recent studies, exceed $34,000 a year for private schools and $10,000 a year at some public universities (non-residents pay about 3 times as much as residents at these public […]

Take-Away: In order to avoid the ‘shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations’ adage, we find ourselves spending more time with closely held business owners, not only in structuring their estates to avoid probate and federal estate taxes, but to also prepare their families for the responsibilities of managing that inter-generational transfer of wealth.  It seems […]

Take-Away: We normally think of self-settled asset protection trusts, like the Michigan Qualified Distributions in Trust Act, as the only way for a trust to protect assets that are transferred to it by a beneficiary. But we need to remember that there are other ways in which an irrevocable trust can be used to protect […]

Take-Away: Clients and their advisors need to spend more time looking closely at beneficiary designations, contingent beneficiary designations that are signed by clients and used to transfer wealth on the client’s death. Arguably more wealth might be transferred on an individual’s death via beneficiary designations or nontestamentary contractual arrangements than pursuant to their will and […]

Take-Away: With the new limits on the income tax deductibility of state and local taxes, in particular real property taxes,  new strategies are now  beginning to emerge to deal with that income tax deduction limitation. One strategy is to shift the real property tax burden to an irrevocable trust, which has its own $10,000 annual […]

Take-Away:  You will recall that I recently wrote about the need for a fiduciary to be empowered to access the content of an individual’s digital assets. I mentioned this in a couple of presentations last week, after which I was asked by two attorneys if I had seen any sample language that would comply with […]

Take-Away: We all know how important it is to name a beneficiary of an IRA. If there is no designated beneficiary then the IRA custodial agreement will usually provide a default beneficiary. If the default beneficiary under the IRA custodial agreement is the decedent’s estate, the pay-out period in which to empty the IRA is […]

Take-Away: Grantor trusts for income tax purposes cause the grantor/settlor of the irrevocable trust to pay the income taxes on the trust’s income. But the trust’s assets will not be included in the grantor’s estate for estate tax calculation purposes. Some of the benefits of a grantor trust are: (i) a transfer of assets between […]