Educational Alerts

“It’s not fair!” Parents hear this protest all the time, and it often comes from children who confuse being treated fairly with being treated equally. One of the challenges of parenting is figuring out how to be fair to your children when, often, that doesn’t mean treating them exactly the same. Here’s an example: Andy […]

While many people plan out their vacations in great detail, they may be forgetting to address what to do if the unexpected happens while their out of town. Find out how setting an estate plan in place, even a basic one, can minimize your worries about those “what if’s,” and enjoy that vacation you’ve been dreaming of.

This month’s Alert examines how a “Will” might be in various different forms, like on an iPhone. The Alert also discusses how it may be prudent to use other devices to avoid probate.

This month’s Alert examines issues concerning state estate taxes. While the federal exemption has increased to over $5 million per person, about 1/3 of the states have exemptions as low as $675,000.

This month’s Alert focuses on charitable giving. Often, people like to think of charitable giving at year-end. In addition to year-end giving for income tax purposes, a client may wish to think about including charitable giving in their estate plan to capture income, gift, or estate tax savings. Whenever they do the giving, charitable giving is a great way to give back to the community!

This month’s Alert examines how to preserve government benefits for beneficiaries with special needs. A “Special Needs Trust” can ensure assets you leave the beneficiary do not disqualify them from government benefits.

This month’s alert examines a case involving the rule of consistency. In the case, beneficiaries of a trust were trying to contest the income tax basis of a property. The basis had derived from the estate tax valuation as reported by the executor of the decedent’s estate. The court concluded that the beneficiaries were bound by the executor’s position because of the rule of consistency.

How much protection is enough? This month’s alert examines this quandary and the tension between protecting beneficiaries and giving them control of assets.

This alert discusses the IRS’ recently-released ruling regarding married same-sex couples. It examines how the IRS will treat such couples, even when they live in a state which does not respect their marriage.

This month’s alert examines a case which illustrates the importance of choosing an estate planning attorney. It also demonstrates the importance of the implementation of a strategy, in this case a Family Limited Partnership (FLP).