It was recently reported that prior to his death, Philip Seymour Hoffman rejected the advice of both his attorneys and accountant when planning his estate. Instead of leaving his estate to his children, Hoffman left his entire $34 million estate to his long-term girlfriend and mother of his kids. He…
A dynasty trust used to be a very popular estate planning tool that has declined in use over the last few years. A dynasty trust ensures that upon the client’s death their assets would still qualify for an estate tax exemption. In the past, if a deceased spouse did not…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Many people are uncomfortable with the process of estate planning. As a result, people are not always completely forthcoming with their estate planning attorney or do not think through all aspects of their plan. If you are just starting to draft your estate plan or are thinking of revising your…
In the last post we discussed the first five of ten essential documents that should be considered when estate planning. Those included a basic will, beneficiary forms, a financial power of attorney, medical power of attorney, and a living will. Here are the last five documents that should be included…