LISI.com – Practice Pointers on the Core Concern of Blended Family Estate Planning: Joint or Separate Representation

Reproduced with Permission by and Courtesy of Leimberg Information Services, Inc. (LISI). For information about how to subscribe to LISI, click here. “Statistics show that approximately 60% of second marriages end in divorce, and almost 75% of third marriages do as well. These figures loom large in the minds of couples with the “yours, mine and/or ours” scenarios in their step and blended families. There are pluses and minuses to couples sharing everything regarding their estate planning together, and when it comes to couples with blended families, the minuses can outweigh the pluses substantially. While there is great value in…

New Book Helps You Plan for and Protect Your Assets

Orange County, California (March 29, 2012) – There are few things in life more certain than death and taxes and perhaps, in today’s society, Law suits. However, the fact is few people actually plan for them. In the New Book The Ladder of Success: An Asset Protection Planning Primer, Attorney Jeffrey R. Matsen (“Top 100 Attorneys in U.S.” Worth Magazine) has provided a straightforward and elementary description of what Asset Protection really is and demonstrates how it can be effectively implemented by taking various steps, like rungs on a ladder, to truly climb the ladder of success. “The one constant…

Steve Oshins’ 3rd Annual DAPT Ranking Chart & Other Free Updated Charts Available to Download

Steve Oshins’ 3rd Annual Domestic Asset Protection Trust Ranking Chart Thanks to the generosity of nationally renowned estate planning and asset protection attorney, Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) for providing his 3rd Annual Domestic Asset Protection Trust Ranking Chart. For the first time since the chart was originally created, this chart now assigns numerical rankings to each DAPT state. The approximate weights assigned to each variable are listed. However, please note that in the interests of impartiality, since Nevada is the only state (of the top eight states per the rankings) that doesn’t allow divorcing spouses to access its…

Practical Planner – Checklist: Capacity (Volume 7, Issue 2)

Martin “Marty” Shenkman, Esq., CPA, MBA is an estate planning attorney and Certified Public Accountant who authors a number of publications each month, including his monthly e-mail newsletter, “Practical Planner“. Below is the second installment from Marty’s March/April 2012 newsletter. To be added to Marty’s monthly e-mail distribution list, e-mail newsletter@shenkmanlaw.com. Summary: By 2030 it is estimated that 1/5th of all Americans will be age 65 or older. Age brings challenges, that are often compounded by more health challenges. These make confirming that you have adequate ability, called “testamentary capacity,” to sign a will more important. But even if you’re…

Baby Boom Good for Life Insurance

More babies means greater demand for good old-fashioned cash-value life insurance. Young couples tend to buy life insurance to protect their families and babies are making a comeback. In fact, what has been called a “baby bust” in the United States is now over, according to a January report from Demographic Intelligence, published by W. Bradford Wilcox, associate professor of Sociology at University of Virginia, Charlottesville. In the wake of The Great Recession (2008-2012), the total fertility rate and the number of U.S. births fell more than 7 percent from 2007 to 2010, says Wilcox’s “U.S. Fertility Forecast.” The report…

Keebler & Ward on Taproot v. Commissioner: Roth IRA Not Eligible Shareholder of S Corporation

Reproduced with Permission by and Courtesy of Leimberg Information Services, Inc. (LISI). For information about how to subscribe to LISI, click here. Traditional IRAs are not eligible S corporation shareholders under Rev. Rul 92-73 on the theory that the beneficiary of a traditional IRA is not taxed currently on the IRA’s share of the S corporation’s income. But what about Roth IRAs? In Employee Benefits and Retirement Planning Newsletter #506 Bob Keebler provided LISI members with his analysis of the initial Tax Court decision in Taproot, that at the time supplied the answer to the fascinating question set out above….

Practical Planner: 2012— ACT NOW! (Volume 7, Issue 2)

Martin “Marty” Shenkman, Esq., CPA, MBA is an estate planning attorney and Certified Public Accountant who authors a number of publications each month, including his monthly e-mail newsletter, “Practical Planner“. Below is the second installment from Marty’s March/April 2012 newsletter. To be added to Marty’s monthly e-mail distribution list, e-mail newsletter@shenkmanlaw.com. Summary: Unless you’re hiding under a rock, you’ve been bombarded with email newsletters, mailings and more from your CPA, investment adviser, the 100s of people who want to be your investment adviser and more, cajoling you to make gifts before the end of 2012. Well this article is one…

5 Important Steps to Update Estate Plans

The tumult of the current tax season is winding down, but advisors can provide a valuable additional service to their wealthy clients by encouraging them to closely review their estate plans to ensure these are up to date. Estate plans are valid at the time they are signed, but sometimes years or decades pass before they come into play and circumstances change: assets grow or retract, designated trustees die, family members have falling-outs. Keeping estate plans current is essential to protecting clients’ families and their assets, Blooma Stark, an attorney with Aronberg Goldgehn Davis & Garmisa, said in a telephone…

Attract, Engage & Work with Families with Taxable Estates and Their Advisors

For decades many of us, as wealth strategies planners, have wondered not only how but if we should attract, engage and work with affluent families and those with complex taxable estates. Their advisors are more protective. The solutions are more complicated and create larger liability. Though the fees may be greater, are they enough to cover the time and effort – especially if we only do it occasionally? The Laureate Center for Wealth Advisors has the training and education needed to attract, engage, and implement work in the taxable estate arena. You owe it to yourself and your clients to…

Robert Keebler: Planning for Concentrated Stock Positions, Plus Half Off Bob’s Teleconference

Reposted with Permission from Robert S. Keebler, CPA, MST, AEP Planning for Concentrated Stock Positions: Variable Forward Sales, Charitable Remainder Trusts and Exchange Funds The detrimental effects of concentrated stock portfolios are well documented. Not only do they subject the investor to a high level of risk, but their volatility tends to drag down returns. Fortunately, a number of strategies have been developed to address the problem. This is the last in a three-part series of columns explaining those strategies. In the first column I explained how asset volatility drags down returns, quantified the benefits of diversification and provided a…