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There are a number of trusts that can be customized to the needs of an investor, but each trust has its own advantages and disadvantages. This simple guide works to illustrate any concerns that an investor might have about tax consequences, withdrawal powers, the three-year rule and more by looking at the pros and cons of seven different popular ty...

Life insurance can play an important role in helping achieve the legacy and financial objectives of an individual or family—especially those with significant taxable estates and illiquid assets such as privately held businesses and real estate. For those who have assets that exceed the federal estate tax-exemption thresholds—$5,430,000 ...

In the past, when analyzing whether a client should make taxable gifts, estate planners tended to simply rely on comparing the transfer tax cost of making such gifts with those made at death. Paying the gift tax was assumed to be “cheaper” than paying estate tax, even though the rate was the same, because gift taxes are calculated on a ...

With the recent changes in the transfer tax laws, it is possible to transfer greater wealth and reduce income taxes through POAST. This innovative approach and integrated trust technique allow a wealthy individual (the donor) to provide benefits to both parents and descendants. A properly structured POAST can accomplish multiple objectives, includi...

For each parcel of real property owned, the local assessor sends a Notice of Assessment, Taxable Valuation, and Property Classification. If it hasn’t already been received, it is on its way to the mailbox. Printed on the top of the Notice in big, red capital letters is: THIS IS NOT A BILL. So, most people are inclined to throw the Notice away...

In nearly every discussion about estate planning, important questions and issues arise. If couples arrive in their attorney’s office having already thought about these issues—including assessing the level of financial management skills their beneficiaries should possess, how to communicate to their children about their hopes and expectations about ...

As a result of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the private family trust company (PFTC) has becomie a very popular vehicle to provide not only Family Office SEC exemption but also trust administration to the ultra wealthy inter-generationally and several additional tax and non-tax advantages. This memo identifies several of ...

When carried interest is transferred early in a fund’s life, it can have a very low value relative to its potential value at payout. It’s this payout potential that makes it an ideal asset to be used in estate tax-reduction planning, especially when used in combination with a grantor trust allowing for that appreciation to compound on a...

Portability may have been viewed initially as the simple solution in situations in which there was the potential for loss of the applicable credit amount of the first spouse to die. While this is a valuable benefit, the impact and potential planning opportunities for portability go beyond this important but somewhat limited scope.

Without a full understanding of U.S. federal gift tax and income tax issues associated with a gift of money to a U.S. child, it is easy for a nonresident alien to convert what would have been a tax-free gift to taxable income. This guide outlines the most common gift-giving mistakes and how to avoid them.

For foreign entrepreneurs seeking to bring their businesses to the United States, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa may seem like the perfect fit. Looks, however, can be deceiving. Green card holders are subject immediately to U.S. federal income tax on their worldwide income and informational reporting requirements for their foreign interests.

New Hampshire has a robust set of modern trust laws, which afford settlors broad flexibility and creativity in designing trusts well suited to their specific needs and wishes. Those laws facilitate the more efficient administration of trusts and, importantly, provide a high level of certainty concerning the rights, duties and powers of settlors, be...

The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 maintained the gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes that were scheduled to sunset prior to 2013 and increased the exemptions for all three taxes to $5.25 million, making new or additional gifts to trusts a more attractive option in estate planning.

The allocation of receipts and disbursements between principal and interest are critical to the proper design and administration of trusts. Individuals creating trusts should have an appreciation and basic understanding of these concepts so the trusts will operate consistent with the settlors’ intentions and provide the intended benefits.

Selecting one’s home state as the situs may be a convenient or easy answer. However, the ability to implement a trust that may last forever, eliminate additional transfer taxes after funding and avoid state income taxes may provide the financial incentive to stray from home, or at least to consider it.