A potential client called to ask a question that he claimed was “simple”. After a ten minute dissertation outlining a very complicated fact pattern – all I could say was, “It depends.”
He wasn’t very thrilled with my answer, and I can understand why. It would seem that lawyers sell more “Depends” than Walgreens and CVS [...]
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. Attending this conference is like taking a full semester’s course load of post-graduate level tax law in [...]
A common question that I’m asked involves which expenses the estate can and should pay when a loved one dies. The question sounds something like this: “Craig, my father just died and I’m his personal representative. I’m flying in my wife and children, my sister and her family are all coming too. Can I pay [...]
Growing up, one of my favorite relatives was my Aunt Libby – who was a real pistol. Those of you who are Hoosiers and who ever frequented Libby’s Deli at the downtown Indianapolis City Market (Governor Bowen and Mayor Lugar could often be found at the lunch counter munching on Libby’s famous Bar-B-Q sandwiches) would [...]
Madison, my youngest daughter – asked me if she could go over to a friend’s house. I told her that she could - only to be vetoed by Patti. “She didn’t clean up her room like I asked her to,” Patti said. “And I don’t think that she should be able to go over to [...]
Let me start the new year off with one of the most common questions I encounter in my practice. That question goes something like this, “I’m not a millionaire and my estate is not taxable, so I don’t need a trust do I?”
Whether you would benefit from a revocable living trust does not really have [...]
Last week I wrote about the uncertainty surrounding whether and how the federal estate tax might be extended into 2010 and beyond. As of January 1st without further legislation being enacted the federal estate tax disappears for one year, only to be replaced with a capital gains tax system that is difficult for lay people [...]
If someone dies when their home, residence or other mortgaged property is “under water”, what should the personal representative of the estate do? Should they continue to make the payments on the property to keep it current until it sells? What happens if the sales proceeds are not enough to cover the mortgage note? Should [...]
When a loved one passes away owning securities, there are steps that the personal representative and/or the trustee of the decedent’s trust should immediately take to minimize investment risk during the estate administration. In today’s column I’m going to review these basic concepts.
Most folks own securities in some form or another. They may own stock [...]
I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving and thank you very much for following my column over the years. In the spirit of this week’s holiday, allow me to list some of the things that I am grateful for:
I’m grateful for this column – I appreciate Lorin Arundel & Ken Rasi and all of [...]