Download Printable Article By Bruce Givner, Esq. Many taxpayers and most all tax professionals have heard about “FBARs” (Foreign Bank Account Reports, on Form TD F 90-22.1). Some taxpayers and most tax professionals are now also familiar with the Form 8938 Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets. However, virtually every taxpayer and most tax professionals are completely unaware of the top eight other IRS foreign information forms. In an increasingly interconnected international world, these forms are called for in a surprising number of situations. In fact, they may be all around you if you are not paying attention. Given the…
NEW Basic Teleconference Registration Added
You’ve spoken up and we’ve listened. Several of our customers have indicated that they would love to attend more than one of our teleconference programs, but it simply is not feasible to do so with how many we run each month. We are pleased to announce a new registration option that will make attending our teleconference programs far more affordable for our customers. We are pleased to announce the Basic Registration option, which allows our customers to attend a live teleconference program for as low as $99. The Basic Registration option gives you the PDF handout materials and access to…
The Top Six Estate Planning Concepts Your Future Ex-Spouse Doesn’t Want You to Know About
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Divorce can be ugly. But it’s a realistic possibility for anybody who is married. Therefore, estate planners must plan for it when designing their clients’ estate and asset protection plans. This article will highlight six concepts that can protect assets from a divorcing spouse and, in some cases, enhance or keep together the marital relationship — at least until the day of reckoning. The planning concepts described herein are listed in no particular order of importance. The “Floating Spouse Provision” – When designing a trust, unless there is a compelling…
Are Your Clients (And Their Older Relatives) Wasting Their $5.45 Million Coupon To Increase Tax Basis?
Download Printable Article By Edwin P. Morrow III, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), CFP®, RFC® For many taxpayers, the traditional trust design for married couples is now obsolete. The number of estates paying federal estate tax is minimal. Traditional AB trust designs risk incurring higher income taxes after the first death, and reduced basis increase at the second death. New trust designs can not only mitigate against this risk, but create income tax advantages over outright bequests. Practitioners must now consider the applicable exclusion amount not so much as a “coupon” to exempt estate tax, but a “coupon” to increase basis –…
Blue Sky Planning: Defining What’s Possible
By Jason Oshins, Financial Advisor, MBA As I view the world around me, I often consider the following question: “If we designed this from scratch, how would it look?” And frequently, it wouldn’t resemble what currently exists. How would, say, the airline industry look? What would be the structure of healthcare? Would women wear heels and men wear ties? If we could get thoughtful, provocative pragmatists in a room, what would they create? I often think about how this relates to financial planning – estate planning, investment planning, retirement planning, and insurance planning. In this article, I begin with the aforementioned…
Did Law School Fail You?
Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant Graduating law school is quite an accomplishment for anyone. But, with the growing popularity of becoming a lawyer, there’s an over-saturation of graduates and simply not enough lawyering jobs to employ those coming out of law school. Burdened by thousands of dollars of school loan debt and a desire to put to use the countless hours of hard work they put into it, many lawyers have been (or will be) forced to start up their own practice, whether they wanted to or not. And this is where most people are going to…
The Top Eight Trust Jurisdictions If There Was a Jurisdictional Super Bowl
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) The jurisdictional competition for state trust law supremacy is similar to the National Football League’s biggest annual event — the Super Bowl. Every year there are changes to state statutes that create more and more competition among the most proactive trust jurisdictions. The adrenaline and effort put forth by the trust promoters often equals or exceeds that of an NFL football player. If there were Jurisdictional Playoffs ending in a big game called the Jurisdictional Super Bowl, the question is, “Who would win the big game?” The Competitors Alaska, Delaware,…
ABA Heckerling Reports from the 2016 Heckerling Institute
For the past 17 years, the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law with the permission of the University of Miami School of Law, releases several extensive reports highlighting the various lectures and proceedings of the Heckerling Institute, one of the nation’s largest estate planning conferences, held every year in January. This past January 2016, marked the 50th Annual Heckerling Institute. To view, download and access these extensive reports, please click here to visit the ABA’s website. Further, at the above website, you can also access reports from prior Heckerling Institutes as well. We, at The…
With Estate Tax Planning Basically Dead, Here’s a Trust You Should Be Selling to a Lot of Your Clients
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law It’s not a Living Trust (but it does have broad application). Nor is it an Asset Protection or Medicaid Trust (though it does have some asset protection features). And, thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, this Trust has been made even better (or more valuable). Okay, here it is. The Standalone Retirement Trust (or “IRA Beneficiary Trust”, or, as I call it, the “IRA Inheritance Trust®”). It’s simply a trust that acts as beneficiary of a client’s IRAs…
My Spouse (or other loved one) is Heading Into a Nursing Home… What Should I Do Now?
Download Printable Article By Louis W. Pierro, Esq. If your estate planning clients are like mine, it takes time to educate them, and get them across the threshold, before they are willing to commit and pay the fees that you are looking to charge. On the other hand, by far the most motivated clients I have are those who are in crisis — they (or another family member) need nursing home care now, and are looking for help getting Medicaid, and saving some portion of their life savings. The value of our services is abundantly clear — and our clients…