Decanting an Irrevocable Trust – The Process

Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Our clients often set up and fund an irrevocable trust and then come back to us wanting to change the trust terms. This even sometimes happens within a matter of days of funding the trust. Human nature is such that people often change their minds. And it is also likely that circumstances will change after the trust has been funded. We also often review our clients’ and prospects’ existing trusts and find that they weren’t drafted very well. Just as our clients often want to change their irrevocable trusts, advisors…

Robert Keebler Podcasts on 2016 Budget Proposals

Reproduced with Permission by and Courtesy of Leimberg Information Services, Inc. (LISI). For information about how to subscribe to LISI, click here. Nationally renowned CPA and tax planning expert, Robert S. Keebler, CPA/PFS, MST, AEP (Distinguished), CGMA, recently produced three podcasts with commentary regarding the Administration’s 2016 Budget Proposals. To listen to these complimentary podcasts, see below: © Copyright 2015. Reproduction in Any Form or Forwarding to Any Person Prohibited – Without Express Permission.

Dahl v. Dahl: Utah Supreme Court Rules Trust Not a Domestic Asset Protection Trust!

Reproduced with Permission by and Courtesy of Leimberg Information Services, Inc. (LISI). For information about how to subscribe to LISI, click here. “The Court specifically uses the terms ‘strong public policy’ and ‘repugnant’ in their analysis. Query how they might have ruled had this been a defendant in a negligence action, for example, rather than it being a divorce matter. Would the Court still have applied Utah law under its ‘strong public policy’ and ‘repugnant’ requirements? It appears that the answer would be ‘no’ given this requirement that it be a ‘strong public policy’ and ‘repugnant,’ but this is far…

The 3.8% Surtax for Trusts & Estates

By Robert S. Keebler, CPA/PFS, MST, AEP (Distinguished), CGMA Executive Summary The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 created a 3.8 percent surtax on certain net investment income effective for tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2013. The tax applies to estates and certain trusts as well as to individuals. Given the low income threshold at which the tax begins to apply, the tax will have broad application to trusts and estates. This article summarizes application of the 3.8% surtax to trusts and estates and offers some initial planning ideas What Trusts are Subject to the…

2nd Annual Trust Decanting State Rankings Chart Released!

By Steven J. Oshins, J.D., AEP (Distinguished) The 2nd Annual Trust Decanting State Rankings Chart was released earlier this week. This year’s chart includes more variables than were included in last year’s chart. The additional attributes were added in order to provide the end user with as many details as possible so the best jurisdiction can be selected based on the desired decanting or, with respect to a newly-formed irrevocable trust, the best jurisdiction to maximize future decanting flexibility. What is Decanting? Trust decanting is the act of distributing assets from one trust to a new trust with different terms….

Download the 2nd Annual Trust Decanting State Rankings Chart

Decanting has become a very popular technique in the estate planning world.  We are pleased to announce that nationally renowned estate planning and asset protection attorney, Steven J. Oshins, J.D., AEP (Distinguished), has just released his second annual Trust Decanting State Rankings Chart.  To request a complimentary copy of his chart, complete the form below. REQUEST FREE CHART   All 22 states with decanting statutes are ranked in this chart.  In particular, this year’s chart has additional variables which were not included in last year’s chart. The Top 7 decanting jurisdictions are… South Dakota: Total Score = 99.5 Nevada:  Total…

Beware of Standard Provisions in LP & LLC Documents

They can inadvertently divest your client’s family from controlling the business or cost millions in additional estate, gift or income taxes! By Edwin Morrow, J.D., LL.M., MBA, CFP®, RFC® Investors increasingly use limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships or limited partnerships (“LLCs”, “LLPs” and “LPs”) to operate a trade or business, to hold real estate or hold other investment assets, as opposed to state law corporations. When only immediate family are owners, these are often referred to as family limited partnerships or limited liability companies (“FLPs” and “FLLCs”). There are numerous business, asset protection and estate planning reasons for using…

The Art of Roth Recharacterizations

By Robert S. Keebler, CPA/PFS, MST, AEP (Distinguished), CGMA For affluent taxpayers Roth Conversions provide a significant opportunity to move funds from a tax deferred environment (as is the case with traditional IRAs) into a tax-free environment (as is the case with Roth IRAs) at a relatively reasonable current income tax cost. In general, there are eight reasons why a person may want to consider converting to a Roth IRA: Special favorable tax attributes (e.g., charitable deduction carryforwards, net operating losses (NOLs), investment tax credits, excess itemized deductions, high basis nondeductible traditional IRAs, etc.) can be taken advantage of. The…

Our 2014 Holiday Hours

To all of our clients, prospective clients, affiliates, and fellow estate planning colleagues, we just wanted to wish you Happy Holidays!  We truly hope that you will take some time off and enjoy it with family and friends in the coming weeks. Our office will be open, but we will have limited hours due to the holidays, as noted below. Wednesday, December 24th – Open from 8:30am to 12pm Pacific Time Thursday, December 25th – CLOSED (Christmas Day) Friday, December 26th – CLOSED Monday, December 29th – Open from 8:30am to 12pm Pacific Time Tuesday, December 30th – Open from…

Last Opportunity to Join Phil Kavesh’s Monthly Practice-Building Series

Whether you are just starting out or you have 20+ years of experience running your own estate planning practice, you have most likely found out pretty quickly that all of the things you learned in law school, school textbooks, and through continuing education courses simply do NOT properly prepare you for what is involved in running your own practice.  These things will most certainly help you become a technically sound practitioner, well-versed in the law, and perhaps a brilliant estate planning lawyer.  But, it simply does not but it doesn’t train and teach you about the day-in and day-out experiences…