By Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, AEP, JD Are major estate tax law changes in the offing? Perhaps, but my Ouija board smoked when I asked the question. So, barring that type of guidance, what assurance can there be? The election hasn’t occurred yet, so there’s certainly no way to know which candidate will win. Party platforms haven’t even been finalized. And, there’s no assurance that the winner’s proposals will be enacted. In spite of the above, practitioners should put all clients involved in active planning on notice of Clinton and Trump’s proposals because they’re so dramatically different. No…
Hurry and Use the Restricted LLC/LP Statutes Before the IRC Section 2704 Regulations are Finalized!
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Estate planners often use family limited liability companies and family limited partnerships to facilitate gifting and installment sales of minority interests or non-voting interests to family members or irrevocable trusts for the benefit of family members. Under Code Section 2704(b) and Treasury Regulations §25.2704-2(a), if an interest in an entity is transferred to or for the benefit of a member of the transferor’s family, any applicable restriction is disregarded in valuing the transferred interest. Treasury Regulations §25.2704-2(b) defines an applicable restriction as a limitation on the ability to liquidate the…
Private: Our Presidential Election: What’s an Investor to Do?
Download Printable Article By Jason Oshins, Financial Advisor, MBA This article takes a non-partisan view of the impact of the 2016 presidential elections. At the end of it, I will share my investment advice. In the Crowded House classic “Don’t Dream It’s Over”, Neil Finn sings, “they come to build a wall between us.” This feels like the world today. We’re in the heat of it. It’s unavoidable. Everywhere you turn, people are talking about the state of the world. What if Hillary wins the election? What if Trump trumps Hillary? What does this mean for the country, for the…
The Standalone IRA Beneficiary Trust
The IRS-Approved Standalone IRA Beneficiary Trust… THE IRA INHERITANCE TRUST®
The Top Six Estate Planning Concepts Your Future Ex-Spouse Doesn’t Want You to Know About
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Divorce can be ugly. But it’s a realistic possibility for anybody who is married. Therefore, estate planners must plan for it when designing their clients’ estate and asset protection plans. This article will highlight six concepts that can protect assets from a divorcing spouse and, in some cases, enhance or keep together the marital relationship — at least until the day of reckoning. The planning concepts described herein are listed in no particular order of importance. The “Floating Spouse Provision” – When designing a trust, unless there is a compelling…
Blue Sky Planning: Defining What’s Possible
By Jason Oshins, Financial Advisor, MBA As I view the world around me, I often consider the following question: “If we designed this from scratch, how would it look?” And frequently, it wouldn’t resemble what currently exists. How would, say, the airline industry look? What would be the structure of healthcare? Would women wear heels and men wear ties? If we could get thoughtful, provocative pragmatists in a room, what would they create? I often think about how this relates to financial planning – estate planning, investment planning, retirement planning, and insurance planning. In this article, I begin with the aforementioned…
Are Your Clients (And Their Older Relatives) Wasting Their $5.45 Million Coupon To Increase Tax Basis?
Download Printable Article By Edwin P. Morrow III, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), CFP®, RFC® For many taxpayers, the traditional trust design for married couples is now obsolete. The number of estates paying federal estate tax is minimal. Traditional AB trust designs risk incurring higher income taxes after the first death, and reduced basis increase at the second death. New trust designs can not only mitigate against this risk, but create income tax advantages over outright bequests. Practitioners must now consider the applicable exclusion amount not so much as a “coupon” to exempt estate tax, but a “coupon” to increase basis –…
With Estate Tax Planning Basically Dead, Here’s a Trust You Should Be Selling to a Lot of Your Clients
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law It’s not a Living Trust (but it does have broad application). Nor is it an Asset Protection or Medicaid Trust (though it does have some asset protection features). And, thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, this Trust has been made even better (or more valuable). Okay, here it is. The Standalone Retirement Trust (or “IRA Beneficiary Trust”, or, as I call it, the “IRA Inheritance Trust®”). It’s simply a trust that acts as beneficiary of a client’s IRAs…
Special Offer for Clear Law Institute Webinar Attendees
Thank you for participating on Phil Kavesh’s special presentation with Clear Law Institute entitled, “Proper Post-Death Administration of IRA Beneficiary Trusts”. For your convenience, we have put together a few tools and resources that we think you might be interested in. FREE IRA Trust Post-Mortem Checklist As noted on the webinar, we are offering all attendees a complimentary IRA Trust Post-Mortem Checklist—a 10-page Microsoft Word modifiable document for you to use in the implementation process. Once you complete the form above, we will e-mail you your complimentary checklist. ITEMS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: We have a number of products…
Estate Analyst—Clark v. Rameker: No Bankruptcy Exemption for Inherited IRA
By Robert L. Moshman, Esq. It is not often that the Supreme Court provides a clear rule on any aspect of financial planning (or even graces our niche with a passing reference), so these occasions call for special attention. On June 12, 2014, the Supreme Court’s decision in Clark v. Rameker clarified that an inherited IRA is not a protected retirement fund for bankruptcy purposes. Here, we analyze the decision and its impact on planning issues and review the applicable rules and caveats that apply to inherited IRAs. Note: The following discussion of IRAs is about traditional tax-deferred IRAs only…