Every year, nationally renowned estate planning and asset protection attorney, Steven J. Oshins, J.D., AEP (Distinguished), puts together a state rankings chart for Dynasty Trusts, showing which states rank among the highest in the country for Dynasty Trust planning. To download a free copy of Steve’s 3rd Annual Dynasty Trust State Rankings Chart, complete the form below. In particular, some highlights of this year’s chart: include: The top 3 states are #1 South Dakota, #2 Nevada and #3 Alaska. The #4, #5 and #6 states will surprise many people. More weight was put on Decanting in this year’s chart versus…
Don’t Miss This HUGE Deadline Today!
A One-Time Revenue “Window of Opportunity” Is About to Close – – Unless You Grab It Now! Whether you’re a CPA, estate planning attorney or a financial advisor (who’d like to generate more referrals from CPAs and attorneys), here’s a unique chance to generate immediate revenue – – but it’s only available for a few more months. IRS Revenue Procedure 2014-18 allows a surviving spouse to still elect “portability” of their deceased spouse’s unused estate tax exemption amount, even if the death occurred in 2011, 2012, or 2013, provided an estate tax return (Form 706) is filed by December 31,…
10-Hour 10th Anniversary Sale!
Join Us in the Celebration of Our 10th Anniversary! On September 28th, 2004, we started out on this journey that has now become The Ultimate Estate Planner, Inc. Whether you’ve been with us since the very beginning or not, we have a special promotion to celebrate this momentous occasion. For the next 10 hours, you can save 25% off your purchase with us. This can be on anything, including: Upcoming Teleconferences On-Demand Programs The IRA Inheritance Trust® Legal Document Form & Technical Training Package The Successor Trustee Manual The Top 10 Estate Planning Mistakes Living Trust Seminar Marketing Package The…
Tax Alpha®: What Sophisticated Counselors & Advisors Need to Know—Part 2 of 2
By Robert S. Keebler, CPA, MST, AEP (Distinguished), CGMA In the world of finance, “Alpha” is often referred to as the value a money manager generates by exceeding a particular benchmark. In the world of financial planning, Tax Alpha® is best defined as the value financial advisors add by reducing the tax burden on portfolio income – “After all, it is what you keep not what you earn that counts.” A thorough knowledge of the intersection between tax and finance will allow an advisor to substantially reduce a client’s overall tax burden. The heart of Tax Alpha® for most clients…
Top Five Reasons to Situs Your Irrevocable Trust in a Different Jurisdiction
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins, J.D., AEP (Distinguished) Most estate planners automatically situs their clients’ irrevocable trusts in the jurisdiction in which the client resides without considering the possibility of using a different jurisdiction. This is often done for no reason other than the fact that it is customary to do so. However, in many situations this decision causes a loss of potential benefits that may have been obtained by exploring the use of a different trust situs. Following are some of the common reasons to situs an irrevocable trust in a different jurisdiction: Reason #1: State Income…
Trusts Aren’t Just for The Rich Anymore
By Jonathan G. Blattmachr & Matthew D. Blattmachr Many people associate trusts with the very wealthy, because they are often used in the media and pop culture in the context of two other words: “fund” and “baby”. The reality is that a trust is a helpful estate planning instrument for most of your clients, not just the wealthy. Clients with $250,000 to $1 million in investable assets should consider a trust to help tackle their estate and financial planning challenges. Another reason trusts are commonly associated with the rich is because in the past for many families the cost of…
Referring Advisors – Shelf Life?
By Joseph J. Strazzeri, Esq. Each year we conduct the same exercise of compiling a list of each advisor that referred us a client over the last two years – noting how many clients were referred, those that we met with, those that retained us, and the associated total revenue. Some of the results are what we expected to see, but often we are shocked that many were one-time referrals and worse, too many great referral relationships have drifted away. “I worked with him once, but . . .” After many industry events and presentations, filtering through an unknown number…
Happy Labor Day!
All of us at The Ultimate Estate Planner just want to wish you and your family a very safe and relaxing Labor Day holiday weekend! We hope that you utilize this holiday to take some time away from work, enjoy your friends and family, eat some delicious food, and do something that you love and that makes you happy! As you should (hopefully) be doing, our office will be closed on Monday, September 1st. Here’s just a glimpse at what’s ahead for our team members this weekend: TABATHA is going camping at Yosemite National Park with her husband and 6…
Happy National Dog Day!
The staff at The Ultimate Estate Planner are most-certainly pet lovers. We all have pets, but 3 out of the 4 of us are dog owners, which is why we must take a brief moment out of our busy day to celebrate NATIONAL DOG DAY and shamelessly post a picture of our beloved furry friends! Megan’s Dog, Diesel (a 5-year-old Black Lab Terrier Mix) Kristina’s Dog, Klare (a 3-year-old Yorkie Cairn Terrier Mix) Melissa’s Dog, Kuma (a 3-year-old Black Lab) Oh, and just because we don’t want Tabatha and her kitties to feel left out, we will go ahead and…
GREAT NEWS!—Marketing Session Added to The Ultimate Level Program
By popular demand, we are pleased to announce that we have added a MARKETING SESSION to both of our upcoming 2-day Ultimate Level events. We are just 4 weeks away from our Dallas program and we only have 4 spots left. For more information about the Dallas event, click here. If you can’t make the Dallas event or prefer to attend our Orlando event in October, we still have room and you still have time to do so. For more information about the Orlando event, click here. During this MARKETING SESSION, Phil will be providing attendees ideas and strategies for…