As we inch towards 2026 and a return to planning for (or around) federal estate taxes, some surviving spouses should take a look at their existing QTIP trusts which may cause their estates to pay federal estate taxes on their deaths.

Other uses for a Michigan Qualified Dispositions in Trust exist, more than just protecting assets from future creditor claims.

Social Security Old Age & Survivors Insurance benefits are now projected to be cut to 77% starting in 2033.

Foreign trusts frequently have annual FinCEN reporting requirements, which carry stiff penalties for their failure to report. The challenge is to determine when a trust actually exists under the laws of foreign nations, and in particular, civil law jurisdictions.

As the law progresses, the historic nature of a trust as a fiduciary relationship seems to be giving way to a new approach to treat a trust as a separate legal entity.

Lifetime gifts maximize the value of a portability election.

The IRS has granted relief from penalties for those designated beneficiaries who failed to take a required minimum distribution from an inherited IRA under the SECURE Act Proposed Regulations.

While President Biden’s recent budget proposal contained many new tax proposals, it also included some provisions, aka ‘revenue generators,’ that result from changes to some common estate planning concepts. Many

An estate planning technique that is getting a lot more attention these days, as 2026 and the reduced applicable exemption amount fast approaches, and estate illiquidity is a genuine concern, is the use of an intergenerational split-dollar arrangement.

If an individual owns some guns, or a gun collection, the use of a gun trust may make good sense to facilitate the use and transfer of such firearms on the owner’s death.