What a Donald Trump Presidency Means for Estate Planning

By Jeramie Fortenberry, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation) Executive Editor & Legal Education Faculty WealthCounsel, LLC In a surprising upset, Republican candidate Donald J. Trump defeated Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton on November 8, 2016, to become President-elect of the United States. Republicans maintained a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, creating alignment between the White House and Congress and paving the way for Republican-backed legislation. Given the emphasis on taxes by both the incumbent Republican leadership and President-elect Trump, significant tax reform is more likely now than it has been in recent years. Trump’s tax plan is largely aligned…

Trump Wins: A Brave New World for Estate Planners

By Jonathan G. Blattmachr, Esq. & Martin M. Shenkman, CPA/PFS, AEP (Distinguished), MBA, J.D. Reproduced with Permission by and Courtesy of Leimberg Information Services, Inc. (LISI). For information about how to subscribe to LISI, click here. “The election of Donald J. Trump as our 45th President was largely unexpected. It is difficult to forecast what that will mean during his term, and, perhaps, his second term. However, he has proposed wide-ranging changes to the nation’s tax system which will affect virtually all Americans and their advisors. Estate planners in particular face a dramatic impact on their practices.” EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The…

Investment Opportunities Involving Private Foundations And Pension Plans

Download Printable Article By Bruce Givner, Esq. Introduction. Private foundations (a particular type of which are charitable remainder trusts) and pension plans are attractive structures since they both involve (i) tax deductible contributions and (ii) no tax on the funds accumulating in them.  Despite their obvious advantages, we find that clients shy away from adopting them due to the tax laws’ restrictions on what they can do with the funds invested in the two structures.  Let’s first discuss the significant advantages of each.  Then we’ll discuss the restrictions and at least hint at the ways to exploit those limits. Private…

The Viability of Delaware Dynasty Trusts After the Kloiber Case

Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) It’s over!  One of the highest-profile cases in the history of the estate planning industry, and one that was being monitored by estate planners all over the United States, has been settled.  Delaware trust promoters had been holding their breath awaiting the result of the case that became the posterchild for jurisdiction selection and the importance of avoiding the use of a health, education, maintenance and support trust in a jurisdiction like Delaware that allows a divorcing spouse of a beneficiary to penetrate the trust. No estate planning professional can…

Pre-Election Estate Tax Proposals: Clinton vs. Trump

By Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, AEP, JD Are major estate tax law changes in the offing? Perhaps, but my Ouija board smoked when I asked the question. So, barring that type of guidance, what assurance can there be? The election hasn’t occurred yet, so there’s certainly no way to know which candidate will win. Party platforms haven’t even been finalized. And, there’s no assurance that the winner’s proposals will be enacted. In spite of the above, practitioners should put all clients involved in active planning on notice of Clinton and Trump’s proposals because they’re so dramatically different. No…

IRA Trusts: Conduit or Accumulation?

Download Printable Article By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Recently, I’ve seen and heard a great deal of debate regarding the proper way to draft an IRA Trust (or what I call an IRA Inheritance Trust® and is also known as a Standalone IRA Trust and Standalone IRA Beneficiary Trust). The debate centers around whether the individual beneficiaries’ subshare trusts should, as a “default” position, be structured as conduit or accumulation trusts. Before I address this issue, let’s briefly deal with some background matters. First,…

Hurry and Use the Restricted LLC/LP Statutes Before the IRC Section 2704 Regulations are Finalized!

Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Estate planners often use family limited liability companies and family limited partnerships to facilitate gifting and installment sales of minority interests or non-voting interests to family members or irrevocable trusts for the benefit of family members. Under Code Section 2704(b) and Treasury Regulations §25.2704-2(a), if an interest in an entity is transferred to or for the benefit of a member of the transferor’s family, any applicable restriction is disregarded in valuing the transferred interest.  Treasury Regulations §25.2704-2(b) defines an applicable restriction as a limitation on the ability to liquidate the…

2016 WealthCounsel Symposium Debrief

By Kristina Schneider, Executive Director It’s Tuesday, October 25, 2016 and I just returned to the office from the 2016 WealthCounsel Symposium in Washington, D.C.  The annual conference for WealthCounsel is always one that is a bit personal to me, as it was the conference I first attended a week after Phil hired me back in July 2004.  It’s always fun to see familiar faces and to be around the very people that we help throughout the year.  As an internet-based company, it’s pretty rare that we have face-to-face contact and most of all of my contact with our customers…