“Joe”, a widower, recently passed away owning an IRA and life insurance policies that named his daughter as a primary beneficiary, with his daughter’s children (Joe’s grandchildren) as contingent beneficiaries. Unfortunately, Joe’s daughter predeceased him, so his grandchildren stepped into the role as primary beneficiary.
When the children’s father went to collect the IRA and life [...]
I was very close to my great grandmother, whom I called “Bubby”. A framed picture in my home includes her image along with an 1890 silver dollar. She told me that her father handed her a silver dollar bearing the year of her birth when she arrived in America. She hadn’t seen him in many [...]
One of the most common statements we hear from folks is that “I don’t want to become a financial or emotional burden to my spouse and children.” Yet for many, the costs of either in-home nursing or for assisted living have the potential to far outweigh their life savings. That’s because the average monthly long [...]
For those of you who believe that you can write a will just effectively as an attorney and save a lot of money I bring to you the latest case from California that points out how important it is to know all of the law surrounding estates and trusts. Not using an attorney well versed [...]
Brenda and Eddie decided to marry – each had a prior marriage that ended in divorce, and each had children from those prior marriages. Brenda and Eddie met and lived in the Chicago suburbs at the time. After fifteen blissfully wedded years, both retired from their respective jobs to move to Florida. Since they both [...]
When you have a revocable trust, does that always mean that your estate will avoid the probate process when you die? You may be surprised to learn that the answer is “No”.
Why is that? First, let’s review what the probate process is. Many people think that “probate” means “taxes”. Probate is not a tax. Probate [...]
The bible is replete with stories describing ill consequences when a parent favors one child over another. Jacob’s deception of his father Isaac in order to receive the blessings of the first born, even though Jacob’s twin brother Esau was entitled, happens to be one of the most famous. A related biblical story regarding Jacob’s [...]
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 [...]