An often misunderstood concept under trust and estate administration centers on “letters of retention.” Letters of retention are common where beneficiaries of a trust direct a trustee not to sell something that the trust holds.
An example would be where Dad, during his lifetime, worked for a publicly traded company, and accrued a lot of stock [...]
An often misunderstood concept under trust and estate administration centers on “letters of retention.” Letters of retention are common where beneficiaries of a trust direct a trustee not to sell something that the trust holds.
An example would be where Dad, during his lifetime, worked for a publicly traded company, and accrued a lot of stock [...]
I’ve written several columns addressing questions about the future of the estate tax. As you may be aware, this year there is no federal estate tax but next year the exemption amount returns to the 2001 level of $1 million absent any further action by Congress and the President. At one point last year it [...]
I’m frequently asked whether estates of decedents who die this year are subject to any estate tax reporting requirements. Assuming no changes to the estate tax laws for 2010, there is no federal estate tax. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t reporting requirements. If a decedent was a resident or owned real estate in a [...]
It seems everywhere I turn there are lists and formulas the experts tell us we should adhere to. We should eat a certain ratio of protein to carbohydrate to fat. We should exercise no less than thirty minutes a day with some portion of the exercise being vigorous and another portion moderate activity. Our stock [...]
“Harry” and “Sally” were interested in marrying as they had cohabitated for many years but had not tied the knot. Both were retired – Harry was widowed and Sally’s former relationship ended in divorce. Harry and Sally had separate assets, with Harry’s estate being the larger of the two. Harry wanted to enter into a [...]
Did you ever have a teacher that answered all of your questions with a question of her own? That’s the way I felt sitting in the nation’s largest annual professional estate planning conference held in Orlando last week. I’ve attended this conference for the better part of twenty years and haven’t seen anything like what [...]
More than 90% of all U.S. businesses are family businesses, accounting for over 78% of our country’s employment and 150 of the Fortune 500 Companies. Yet only 30% of these family businesses will survive into the family’s second generation, 12% will make it to the third generation and only 4% survive to the fourth generation!
The [...]
On April 25th I’ll be competing in the St. Anthony’s Triathlon at St. Petersburg along with 4,000 other contestants. It’s one of Florida’s premier triathlon events, with participants coming not only from around the country, but from around the world. This particular triathlon is an “international distance” event – meaning that the swim is roughly [...]
Most of us need a certain amount of money to pay our everyday bills. People who are in the workforce usually rely on their paychecks, and try to keep a little extra on hand for emergencies. Financial professionals refer to the “extra” amounts on hand, such as savings or investments that can readily be turned [...]