Trusts

How One Family Preserved a Legacy and a Fortune for Six Generations

Published on: July 15, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

We often hear about families who squander fortune; we hear less about families that preserve their wealth and values over generations.

Successful entrepreneurs often struggle with estate planning when it comes to their children. Will knowledge of large inheritances to come create spoiled and unmotivated adults? How can wealth be shared across generations while fostering family values that include a strong work ethic and service to others? In a recent article appearing in Forbes, “The Successful Entrepreneur's Guide to Leaving a Financial Legacy That Won't Spoil Your Kids,” one family’s solution of passing along wealth and empowering generations of children is presented.

The family is one of the richest families in history: The Rockefellers. Their fortune is still going strong today—six generations later. They maintained their fortune by creating trusts to protect the family wealth. Trusts can have specific rules for determining how and when heirs are allowed to access money. This is the key to giving your children access to funds without eliminating their potential to achieve success on their own. Many times entrepreneurs fear leaving their children a large sum of money, but a trust lets you attach some strings.

When Life Throws You a Curve Ball, Be Prepared to Respond

Published on: June 17, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

We never know what's around the corner. Big changes come in all different types. Best strategy: be prepared and deal with whatever comes.

Of those Americans who actually have a will and an estate plan in place, there's still a tendency to let years go by before they update their wills and finances. Any good Houston estate attorney will tell you that a will needs to be updated every three or four years to take advantages of any changes in the law and to address any life changes that occur.

The Middletown Transcript warns in "Game-changing life transitions that need attention" that sudden transitions need to be addressed immediately. However, many times these events will have more complex consequences impacting other parts of your life. Don't stick your head in the sand when such an issue comes up. Deal with it in the context of your overall life.

Selecting an Executor Who is Not a Family Member or Friend

Published on: June 15, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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, and he is concerned about what will happen. In MarketWatch's "My wife and I don't trust anyone to be executor of our will," several different ways to prepare for this situation are examined.

One important note to consider: while mulling over the executor issue, do not table your estate planning. With both spouses still living, the planning should start right away.

Six Key Houston Estate Planning Documents To Protect Your Loved Ones

Published on: May 23, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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 Learn from the Late Musician's Financial Picture." All you have to do is make sure that you have six basic estate planning documents in place to protect your loved ones from additional stress and worry when you pass away.

Here are the six key documents you should have to protect your assets and your family in the event of your passing:

Why It’s Important for Houston’s Young Couples to Consider Estate Planning

Published on: May 9, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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 may happen to their minor children. However, having minor children is reason enough to being the estate planning process. And being young and healthy is not a “get out of jail free” card when it comes to death, as Houston accidents happen all the time.

If you have minor children, you should consider initiating the estate planning process immediately. While it’s not the easiest topic to discuss, it’s one of the most important things you can do for your family. The estate planning process is not too difficult, and it helps to be prepared before you start. The process is much easier when you know what is expected of you:

Name a trusted individual to be the executor of your estate.

Texas Land Is Your Legacy and Estate Planning Is Important

Published on: January 22, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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 next generation will help with survivors' ability to work the land and continue a legacy.

A recent AgriNews article, "Estate planning can lessen grief for survivors," emphasizes that the land is key. It's the heart of the business. Estate planning is about protecting that land.

You should seek the advice of a qualified and experienced estate planning attorney who is well-versed in current estate laws and farm business operations in the state.

TV Crime Boss Not Wise Guy About Estate Planning

Published on: November 25, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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 estate planning tool in"How to Protect Your Estate From Getting 'Whacked' Like James Gandolfini's.

This trustprovides a stream of income for a designated number of years to the specified charity. At the end of that period, the property held in trust reverts back to the donor or to the donor's designated beneficiary.

When the donor makes the gift under a charitable lead trust, he or she immediately receives a federal income tax deduction equal to the present value of the future income stream. But the donor is taxed every year on the value of the income interest that is payable to the charity.

Heirs of Author J.D. Salinger Rest Easy

Published on: November 11, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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 in foreign countries. The lawsuit was filed in Tennessee because the Devault-Graves Agency is based in Memphis, Tennessee. The court dismissed the lawsuit saying it had no jurisdiction to hear the case, and granted the publisher's request to transfer the case to New Hampshire, the author's home state.

Publisher's Weekly reported on this development in "Court Punts Salinger Copyright Case to New Hampshire."

The details of this lawsuit are complex. The stories in the book are part of the public domain in the United States, which means they do not have copyright protection and anyone can publish them.

The Importance of Keeping Wills and Trusts Updated

Published on: November 6, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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 that the funding spouse passed away, funds in the trust were available for the heirs, and the balance of the estate was inherited by the surviving spouse.

Consequently, this approach lowered the size of the surviving spouse's eventual estate and lessened the estate tax burden for the married couple. However, as Kiplinger's Retirement Report points out in "Old Trusts Create Tax Issues for Heirs," estate tax laws have changed significantly since the time when many of these trusts were created.

The estate tax exemption is far higher than it used to be, and spousal portability now allows a married couple to double its estate tax exemption.

Is a Silent Trust Right For Your Houston Family?

Published on: October 30, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

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 not be motivated to establish their own careers or take their studies seriously.

One way to help avoid this is to create a trust that does not give anything to the beneficiaries until they reach an age where they will have settled into their adult lives. However, there still might be a fear that if a beneficiary knows that a large inheritance is eventually coming through the trust, they will not be as motivated to earn their own money as they otherwise would be.

A recent article by Financial Planning, "How Silent Trusts Can Help Your Clients," discusses a type of trust that can be used to keep beneficiaries in the dark about their trusts.