By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Tax and Probate Law I and many practitioners have over the years built successful practices on what I call the “middle market”, that is, estates valued anywhere from $500,000 to $5 million. This level of estate planning practice faces a number of challenges today unlike any we have had in the past. Our services have become commoditized into mass produced documents, with increasing low-priced competition from the internet, do-it-yourself packages, non-attorney paralegals and bargain-priced attorneys. Plus, with the new $5.12 million Federal Estate…
IRS Extends Deadline to Make Portability Election
On February 17th, the IRS released an important Notice allowing an extension to make a portability election for certain qualifying estates. An executor of a qualifying estate that wants to obtain the extension granted by this notice must file the application for a six month extension no later than 15 months after the decedent’s date of death. With the extension granted by this notice, the Form 706 of a qualifying estate will be due 15 months after the decedent’s date of death. The first of these extensions (and underlying Form 706) will be due April 2nd. Estates qualifying for this…
U.S. Treasury Announces President Obama’s 2013 Budget and Proposed Estate Tax Law Changes
A special thank you to Robert Keebler of Keebler & Associates, LLP for the heads up that the U.S Treasury just released its FY2013 Greenbook, which provides an explanation of the Administration’s revenue proposals for Fiscal Year 2013. The Administration’s FY2013 budget proposes tax policy to boost growth, create jobs and improve opportunity for the middle class. In particular, as estate planning professionals, we are all extremely interested to see what is going to happen with the current Federal Estate Tax Exemption Amount, which is set to revert back to $1 million in 2013. According to this bill, the estate…
The eBoot Camp’s Valentine’s Day Gifts to You
Phil Kavesh here to share with you a very special Valentine’s Day Gift that I am passing along from a dear friend of mine. A little over a year ago, I had the fortunate opportunity to pick up a copy of The eBoot Camp’s President, Corey Perlman’s, book entitled, The eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business. Some of my favorite marketing minds and authors had endorsed the book for small businesses and as a self-proclaimed internet dinosaur, it was not only an easy read, but I could tell that Corey knew what he was talking about….
Practical Planner: Checklist: More Heckerling Nuggets (Volume 7, Issue 1)
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 January/February 2012 newsletter. To be added to Marty’s monthly e-mail distribution list, e-mail newsletter@shenkmanlaw.com. √ Your Tax Reimbursement Clauses Might be Dangerous: Some grantor trusts (income taxed to you) include a provision that permit the trustee of a trust you create to reimburse you for taxes you pay on trust income. If reimbursement is mandatory, Go To Tax Jail, Do Not Pass Go….
Betting On A Roth Conversion
By Allan Roth Reposted from Financial-Planning.com Long ago, there wasn’t much that planners had to worry about as far as taxes except for lawmakers changing tax law. Now we have to worry that, if Congress does nothing, taxes will jump in 2013. In these financially tumultuous times, Roth conversion strategies can reduce risk substantially for clients in 2012. UNKNOWNS FOR 2013 Regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats prevail in controlling the White House and/or Congress in November, there is likely to be an impact on tax law. If nothing is done, the Bush-era tax cuts will expire and the highest…
Michelle Ward & PLR 201203033: Trust Qualified as Designated Beneficiary After Beneficiary Released Certain Powers
Reproduced with Permission by and Courtesy of Leimberg Information Services, Inc. (LISI). For information about how to subscribe to LISI, click here. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In PLR 201203033, a trust qualified as a designated beneficiary after a trust beneficiary released certain portions of a power of appointment. The trustee of the trust was also allowed to transfer the inherited qualified plan to an inherited IRA for the benefit of the trust. FACTS “Alex” died at age 62 after establishing a trust that became irrevocable at his death. Alex was survived by his wife, “Lydia”, and his two children, “Nicholas” and “Melissa.”…
Practical Planner: Nuggets from Heckerling (Volume 7, Issue 1)
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 an article from Marty’s January/February 2012 newsletter. To be added to Marty’s monthly e-mail distribution list, e-mail newsletter@shenkmanlaw.com. Summary: The Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning is the estate planning world’s equivalent of the Oscars. Can you imagine anything more spellbinding then nearly 3,000 tax attorneys discussing estate tax planning for an entire week? Well, if you missed all the excitement, we’ve culled some hot tips from the week…
Do You Have What Baby Boomer Investors Are Looking For?
Reposted with permission from The Trust Advisor. Posted by Joe Murphy, Contributor – on January 30th, 2012 Advisors take note: there are 77.6 million Baby Boomers and another one turns 50 every 8.5 seconds. Clearly, the number of American investors approaching retirement is on the rise — and this is the biggest opportunity of all time for advisors who know how to meet their needs. For today, let’s leave the retirees out of the equation. I want to concentrate on the younger cohort of Baby Boomers who still have some time until retirement and are still very much in the…
Interview on Dynasty Trusts with Guest Expert, Steven J. Oshins, Esq.
Steven J. Oshins, Esq. is a nationally renowned estate planning and asset protection attorney based in Las Vegas, Nevada, with clients all over the United States. Steve was the author of Nevada’s 365-year Dynasty Trust law and often works jointly with estate planning attorneys from other states on setting up dynasty trusts and other advanced level estate planning and asset protection techniques. We recently had the opportunity to interview Steve on the topic of Dynasty Trusts. UEP: Would you please start by describing how the Dynasty Trust works? Steve Oshins: Let me begin by clarifying that I’m talking about the…