brooklyn trust lawyer

2016 will undoubtedly go down as an infamous year of celebrity deaths and the unfortunate passing of celebrities continue. The world lost one of its funniest men this past August: Gene Wilder, star of Blazing Saddles, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein and The Producers. He continued to be active later in his life, penning short stories and novellas while contributing to his charity work. Mr. Wilder passed at age 83 from complications due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Past Spouses Must Be Accounted For

While details of Mr. Wilder’s estate remain sparse at the moment, there are no rumblings or rumors of will contests or estate disputes despite the estimated value of Mr. Wilder’s $20,000,000 estate. This is impressive, especially considering that Mr. Wilder was married four times during his lifetime. Having previous divorces can bring numerous complications to estate planning as we have covered before. Considerations for past divorce decrees as well as keeping up to date estate planning documents must be made to prevent a legal mess after a person’s passing.

529 ACCOUNTS

Estate planning is the legal strategy by which one generation transfers wealth to the next, which involves an the use of various trusts and/or a will or even transferring money or items to corporations in an effort to legally and ethically reduce tax liability. One of the easiest ways to insure that your children, grandchildren or loved ones who have not yet graduated from high school have a much easier ride in life is to have them graduate from college.

College graduates almost uniformly enjoy a longer life, better health, live in safer neighborhoods and make more money than those who did not graduate from college. There is a hitch, however, in that college is an extremely expensive undertaking. College graduates can be saddled with debt that can follow them for decades. As such, if you can find a way for them to go to college and graduate with no debt or at least minimal debt, you will ensure that you transferred more wealth to them than even the average wealthy parent can leave via traditional estate planning. Many people are aware of 529 plans, which allows for deposits into an account, wherein the money grows tax free and is non-taxable when withdrawn if used for educational costs.

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Estate Planning – Learning From Gene Wilder

UNDERSTANDING THE SUPERFUND A 529 ACCOUNT