If you don't believe any friends or family members can serve as your executor, what are your options? A question is raised by a well-to-do husband who is concerned that his wife is not prepared to handle a significant estate if he should predecease her. The couple has no children,…
Privacy and a faster resolution to settling estates are just two good reasons to create an estate plan. You really don't have to be a millionaire or famous to create an estate plan, as noted in an article appearing on the Forbes' website, "Prince and Estate Planning: What We Can…
Many young couples choose to hold off on estate planning because they feel they are too young to worry about estate planning and death. Maybe it’s because they think they don’t have enough assets to begin an estate plan or they just don’t want to think about death and what…
Farmers are well versed in the cyclical nature of life, particularly those who deal with livestock. But thinking about your own demise is different than considering the eventual end of animals bred and raised solely for consumption. Talking about death among family members is difficult. But planning in advance for…
The irrevocable charitable lead trust is a trust that cannot be amended, revised or cancelled. We would call that bullet-proof, and it would have been a good idea for preventing James Gandolfini's estate from being "whacked" by estate taxes. The financial website thestreet.com took a closer look at this powerful…
A lawsuit was filed against the Salinger Literary Trust by the Devault Graves Agency, a publishing house, in March 2015. The publishing company said that the trust was interfering with its ability to license its edition of a book titled J.D. Salinger: Three Early Stories that it wanted to publish…
There was a time when irrevocable bypass trusts were highly favored by estate planning attorneys as one of the best estate planning methods for married couples. It worked like this: one spouse would fund the trust with an amount that was just under the estate tax exemption. At the time…
Creating a tool to keep a trust secret from an heir may be considered a "first world" problem, but it is a problem nonetheless. Wealthy families who value their accomplishments are concerned that heirs who know that they are going to receive large amounts of wealth through a trust may…
Utilizing intrafamily loans and trusts is one way that wealthy families can maximize their estate planning strategies. A recent issue of Barron’s features, “How Family Loans and Trusts Can Create Big Wins,” and outlines the specifics on intrafamily loans as an estate planning tool. The note has a fixed value,…
A trust that rewards heirs for desired behavior is known as an “incentive trust.” These kinds of trusts are popular among those who fear that their beneficiaries will not treat their inheritances with respect and are likely to waste vast amounts of resources. If you are considering setting up an…