1. Procrastinating. When are you going to make an estate plan? Let me guess. You call your lawyer on Monday when you’re leaving for vacation on Saturday (a trip planned months ago) and want a will before you go. Or worse, you wait until you are in hospice and decide perhaps you’d best make a… Read More
Tax season is just over. The filing deadline of April 17 is past. (My son, as a little kid, said he thought there were five seasons – spring, summer, fall, winter and tax season.) As soon as you have calculated the damages for your 2011 Form 1040, the next question for most taxpayers is what… Read More
Qualified long-term-care insurance (LTCI) policies are entitled to special tax treatment. To be termed “qualified”, the policy must be guaranteed renewable and cannot have any cash value. A qualified policy requires that a person 1) be expected to require care for at least 90 days, and be unable to perform two or more activities of… Read More
The Thursday, March 31, Intelligencer/New Era carried The Motley Fool’s School article entitled “Probate 101.” I was appalled. I thought those guys were pretty smart. And I always liked the Shakespearean allusion to the Fool who could tell the truth to the King and Queen. But what happened? Probate is not the horror it is… Read More
Long-term care includes a broad range of medical and support services for people with a degenerative condition (such as Parkinson’s or stroke) a prolonged illness (such as cancer) or a cognitive disorder (like Alzheimer’s). It involves providing assistance with the activities of daily living and supervision if needed. The cost of care in a facility… Read More
We finally have tax legislation that answers the question of what will happen to the estate tax. The “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010” (“2010 Tax Relief Act” or “Act”) was signed into law on December 17 by President Obama. (For a detailed description see They Call it a Tax… Read More
A Charitable Gift Annuity is a combination of two things: (1) income for the life of the donor and (2) a charitable gift. A Charitable Gift Annuity is a contract made with a charity which provides that in return for a transfer of cash, marketable securities, or other assets, the charity agrees to pay a… Read More
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Have you read Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, Freedom? It has the dubious distinction of being one of Oprah’s Book Club selections and receiving a devastating review in The New Republic. There being no such thing as bad… Read More
From www.consumeraffairs.com The office of Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna reached a settlement with an Arizona company accused of violating a three-year-old state law intended to crack down on ‘trust mill’ schemes. Under the agreement, The Preservation Group and its founders will offer refunds to more than 60 Washington seniors who purchased living trusts.… Read More
A Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) is an estate planning technique particularly attractive in a low interest rate environment such as we are experiencing. It allows an individual to make large gifts without paying gift tax or using any unified credit. Many families have used short-term GRATs to shift appreciation to beneficiaries with no estate… Read More