By Tiffany A. Oshins The term “Inheritor’s Trust” was service marked at the Patent & Trademark Office by my Daddy (Steve Oshins), my Grandpa (Richard Oshins) and another attorney (Noel Ice) in 2003. They abandoned the service mark in 2006 after the Patent & Trademark Office determined it to have become a term of common usage. Despite the abandonment of the service mark, the estate planning industry continues to use the term. As a potential future inheritor, I would like to receive all gifts and bequests from Mommy and Daddy in an Inheritor’s Trust. This article will explain this concept…
The Estate Planning “Perfect Storm”
An Interview with Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Nationally-known estate planning attorney Steve Oshins and nationally-known CPA Bob Keebler recently gave a joint teleconference for us entitled, “Estate Planning Techniques in a Time of Low Interest Rates”. In that presentation, Steve and Bob coined the term “PERFECT STORM” to reflect the current estate planning environment. We interviewed Steve after the session and are pleased to bring to you highlights from the transcript of the interview. UEP: Why did you and Bob call the current estate planning environment the “PERFECT STORM”? SO: We did so for two reasons. First of…
FREE Hybrid Domestic Asset Protection Trust Client Acquisition Slideshow
Nationally renowned estate and asset protection attorney, Steven J. Oshins, J.D., AEP (Distinguished), has released a FREE Hybrid Domestic Asset Protection Trust (“Hybrid DAPT”) client acquisition slideshow. Whether you’re an attorney, CPA, financial advisor, life insurance agent or trust officer, spend less than 8 minutes to check out this slideshow and use this free tool to educate yourself, your clients, and your prospective clients on the Hybrid DAPT concept! DIRECT LINK Related Education If you’re interested in learning more about the Hybrid DAPT, you might also be interested in the On-Demand presentation that Steve Oshins has on this topic. For…
The 11th Annual DAPT State Rankings Chart Released!
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) It’s that time of year again! The time when estate planners hold their breath, anxiously awaiting the release of the Annual Domestic Asset Protection Trust State Rankings Chart. Where will their favored jurisdiction land? The 11th Annual Domestic Asset Protection Trust State Rankings Chart was created to serve as a single page guide to various states’ DAPT statutes. The states are ranked based on various material factors that are important in selecting a situs for the trust. Although the weights that are applied to different variables are subjective, the methodology used is likely very similar…
How the Hybrid Domestic Asset Protection Trust Has Changed the Entire Asset Protection Industry
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) The Different Asset Protection Options There are three main trust options: Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (“DAPTs”), Foreign Asset Protection Trusts (“FAPTs”) and Hybrid Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (“Hybrid DAPTs”). Domestic Asset Protection Trusts A traditional DAPT is an irrevocable trust set up under the laws of one of the 19 states that allows such a trust. The person setting up and funding the trust (the “settlor”) does not need to reside in one of those 19 jurisdictions. Under the statutes of each of those jurisdictions, after a certain waiting period, the assets transferred…
The 2010-2019 All-Decade Estate Planning Awards
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) This past decade has arguably seen more changes in the estate planning industry than ever before. This article will highlight many of these changes by handing out awards in a number of different categories. #1. MOST SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE IN THE LAW AWARD WINNER: SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN ESTATE TAX EXEMPTION. The change in the law that has been the most significant was the substantial increase in the federal estate tax exemption. No other change in the law played such a prominent role in the way estate planners plan since this essentially turned estate tax planners…
Santa’s 2019 Estate Planning Naughty or Nice List
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Have you been naughty or have you been nice in 2019? This article is directed towards all estate planners, including attorneys, accountants, trust officers, life insurance agents and financial planners. This will help you decide whether you’re been naughty or you’ve been nice. Staggered Distribution Trusts: If you encourage your clients to create trusts that make mandatory outright distributions to the clients’ children upon reaching staggered ages, then you’re on the Naughty List. This subjects the trust assets to the creditors and divorcing spouses of the children. Trusts should generally be designed to…
Are You (or Have You) Drafted IRA Trusts? You Better Make Sure You Do THIS!
By Kristina Schneider, Practice-Building & Marketing Specialist As you may be aware, the SECURE Act threated to reduce the IRA beneficiary stretchout from life expectancy to only 10 years. However, after passing through the House in late May, it has yet to make its way through the Senate. It’s still unclear if and when it may get passed and now into December, it doesn’t seem likely to pass sometime this year. If you have been and/or are drafting standalone IRA Beneficiary Trusts (or IRA Inheritance Trusts®) for your clients, you may nevertheless have these or other law changes in the…
The Spousal Lifetime Access Trust
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Imagine that there is a type of trust that you can set up where you can transfer assets and not only protect them from creditors and estate tax, but also have access to them through your spouse. No, this is not a hypothetical world where there are rainbows and unicorns! This world really does exist! This trust is often called a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust, or “SLAT” for short. Most people are aware of the completed gift version where estate tax avoidance is the primary motivating factor. However, there are really two different…
The Philosophy Behind Protecting Assets from Creditors
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Asset protection has become necessary for just about every physician, every businessman, and every person with even reasonably substantial wealth. It has become customary to have some form of an asset protection trust. As we see case law develop in the asset protection area, it seems that every time a new decision is issued there are numerous blogs and comments made about the case at conferences, whether positive or negative. The litigators generally claim that the new case spells the end of the technique that was used and failed to work in this…