The IRS enacted a new law that required any estates filing Form 706 after July 31, 2015 to report the value of the estate within 30 days after filing the estate form. However, the IRS never issued any implementing regulations for the law. As a result, the IRS has recently…
Baby Boomers have long dictated trends and styles. Today’s Boomers continue to establish trends as they begin their down-sizing moves. Estate sales are a growing niche as older adults scale back their lifestyles. Estate sales have become big business as aging Americans decide that they’d rather let someone else handle…
A recent article in Marketwatch’s Moneyologist column, "What to do when a parent dies and leaves no will," starts with a sad example of how families fall apart when the lack of estate planning pits children against each other. The woman recounts how her father told her and her sister…
Historical wills can offer a window into the past and provide researchers a new perspective on history. Today, old wills for such luminary figures as Herman Melville, Samuel Morse, J.P. Morgan and many other historical figures, can be easily accessed on the web. The well-known genealogical website, Ancestry.com, spent two…
We all love our pets! Leslie Ann Mandel really loved her 32 cockatiels, and her will included a mention of each and every one of her precious pets. Mandel even put $100,000 into a trust for their care and left detailed instructions about how to care for them. She appointed…
Estate plans can outline everything from the disposition of family heirlooms to the distribution of vast land and property holdings. Recently, the $500 million art collection of the estate of shopping center magnate A. Alfred Taubman was in the news. Taubman’s collection is thought to be one of the most…
Perhaps if Dr. Nathaniel Shafer knew what was to come, he may have made some changes to his will that might have precluded a nasty dispute between his wife and his children from a previous marriage. Dr. Shafer’s will leaves a $10 million estate entirely to his wife and her…
If you had an email account in the 1990s, you were personally selected to help a Nigerian prince recover his rightfully due inheritance. He may have written to you many times, pleading with you for your help and thanking you profusely in advance for your generosity and kindness. Some of…
Divorce lawyers know that some of the most intense fights between a couple can erupt over the most insignificant item —- a matchbook collection or a set of souvenir spoons from family vacations. The stuff being fought over serves as a proxy because the parties are angry with each other…
The ongoing skirmish over the small estate of baseball legend Ernie Banks has gone into extra innings. There was a battle between Banks’ estranged wife and the caretaker who was named as sole heir to the estate. Most recently, a third party has claimed a portion of the modest estate. …