NorthStar Introduces Industry's First Wealth Manager Challenge Quiz 

Diagnostic tool enables firms, advisors to benchmark their wealth management processes against industry best practices...

Estate Tax on Wrongful Death Claims? 

An Illinois appellate decision sets a potentially dangerous precedent suggesting it’s possible...

Mark Rogozinski Named Senior Vice President Corporate Development at WealthTrust 

Rogozinski has over 17 years of experience in senior level positions within the financial services industry. His most recent position was Chief Operating Officer at Homrich & Berg, Inc., a $1.6 billion independent wealth management firm based in Atlanta, GA. As COO, he was responsible for the direct management of client service, technology, compliance, operations, human resources, finance/accounting, including the oversight and integration of functional areas, external offices and acquisitions....

Knight Fallout: IRS Issues Notice 2008-32 

As we were going to press with the March 2008 issue of Trusts & Estates magazine, we received an email from Kevin Matz of White & Case, LLP, who has a piece in that issue entitled Knight's "Decided. Now What?" Matz wrote: The great thing about law is that it never stays the same. Internal Revenue Service Notice 2008-32, issued today, provides interim guidance on the 2 percent floor limitations for trusts and estates relating to bundled investment management and advisory costs....

Discovery Goofs 

An inadvertently disclosed document is sometimes a buried treasure -- but always a hot potato. Here's what to do when one lands in your lap...

Bonus Edition: Behind the Astor News 

Indictment makes a mystery man out of a respected lawyer -- who could act as a key witness in the criminal trial. ...

Editorial Masthead 

Editor in Chief Rorie M. Sherman rorie.sherman@penton.com...

Get Me to the Church on Time 

The Kinney case out of Minnesota offers a good review of the general requirements for a valid prenuptial agreement. ...

Capital Crunch Squeezes TIC Industry 

Many users of the popular tenant-in-common (TIC) investment vehicle in commercial real estate are hoping they have the stamina to withstand a double blow...
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Where "In Terrorem" Clauses Should Spark Fear 

In Florida, no-contest clauses -- aka in terrorem clauses -- are void as against public policy, thought to chill citizens' access to the courts for redress. In Washington, D.C., they are strictly enforced. ...

Retirement Income Navigator 

Kelley Rating (one asterisk = lowest, to five asterisks = highest):

  • ease of navigation, design of interface and learning curve ***
  • instructional documentation and help system ***
  • carries out the goal of the product as advertised ****
  • overall usefulness ****
  • ...

    Selling Property? 

    The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service are expected this week to adopt a rule change that effectively kills the use of private annuity trusts to postpone taxes on the sale of appreciated property. ...

    The Twilight of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance? 

    There's a lot of talk lately about revamping our health care system to address its outrageous costs and the millions of uninsured. ...

    Heckerling 2007: A View From the Booth 

    The 41st Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning (held in Orlando, Fla. on Jan. 8-12) offered exceptional expert presenters and written materials for the trusts-and-estates practice. The event featured numerous exhibitors displaying the latest products and services in an informative and educational manner....

    Attorneys' Fees 

    Some wags who practice in the Probate Division here in Chicago say an estate is only “fully probated” when it has been fully eaten up by lawyers’ fees in litigation or other legal matters. For the literary, such quips bring to mind Jarndyce v. Jarndyce in Charles Dickens’ novel, Bleak House, lampooning the 19th century English chancery courts....

    Buried Treasure 

    It is the rarest and most valuable coin in the world, designed by a famed sculptor at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. It should never have been minted. And, for decades, the U.S. government has fought to keep a surviving few out of private hands....

    Holiday Wish: a Trusts and Estates Desktop 

    If you were starting from scratch with a reasonable budget to create a complex of software and quick Internet references for assisting with an efficient trusts-and-estates practice, what should you include on your wish list? ...

    New Money 

    Studies indicate stock options have contributed significantly to the sharp rise in the number of households worth $25 million and more. That means there's a growing number of executives who qualify as clients for the services of top-flight wealth management advisors. ...

    IRA Opportunity 

    Act quickly.  This year and next, there’s a chance for people who are at least 70½ years old to donate funds from their individual retirement accounts (IRAs) directly to charities without incurring income tax on the donation. ...

    Forms on the Web for the T&E Practice 

    Why consider looking for forms on the Web? There are numerous websites with trusts-and estates-related drafting forms and drafting advice, both for free and for a fee. You should, of course, shop for such forms with the same care you apply to evaluating any other products you use in your practice. ...

    Human Nature, Both Sides Now 

    If you do estate and trust litigation for a living, it's easy to begin thinking that greed is ubiquitous. But just when you might harden into cynicism, a case comes along to restore your faith in human nature. ...

    Insuring Antiques and Collectibles 

    Too many clients fail to insure their collections, often because they don't want to create records of their valuables' worth; sometimes because they just don't get around to it. ...

    Planned Giving Resources 

    The World Wide Web offers some excellent resources for calculating and presenting the financial and tax implications of charitable giving. These tools serve a valuable function -- they help potential donors devise financial plans aligned with their values and objectives -- while changing the way people think about philanthropy....

    Just in Time for Halloween: A Dumont-like Horror 

    Stock concentration cases against fiduciaries just keep getting scarier. ...

    A New Calculus 

    The after-effects of Warren Buffett's $31 billion gift to the Gates Foundation -- like any other seismic shift -- continue to circle outward. ...

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Build a Better Endowment

Solid university endowments can survive economic storms...

A Pitch for Privacy Rights

Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher asks court to seal the records of his wife’s cocaine-related death...

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Accruit

Streamlining the management of like-kind exchanges...

Analyzing ILITs

InKnowVision has a spreadsheet-based software that helps wealth planners look at irrevocable life insurance trusts...

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Download The 2009 Findings from a Nationwide Survey of Estate Planning Attorneys

Podcasts

Advising the Wealthy:
It's a Whole New Game

Charlie Ratner talks with estate-planning expert Lou Harrison, investment guru Michael Lewitt and retirement benefits specialist Mike Jones. Register for this timely podcast......

Webinars

Aligning Charitable Giving & Life Insurance

Best Practices, Planning Techniques, and Philanthropic Benefits. Tanya Howe Johnson, President & CEO of the PPP, Kelly Kidwell, President & CEO of Pacific Advisors and Chairman of the AALU Charitable Planning Committee, and Phil Cubeta, the Sallie B. and William B. Wallace Chair in Philanthropy at the American College. Available On Demand!...

Integrative Philanthropy

Times are tough - in fact, donors are more careful to integrate their philanthropy with their financial and estate planning. Robert F. Sharpe, Jr. and Marc D. Hoffman describe the current philanthropic/political landscape and review the techniques that donors of means are now increasingly using to optimize their giving.
Available On Demand!...

The Electronic Practice

Learn how to get the most out of your computer as you work with trusts and estates matters. Sponsored by Sungard -
Available On Demand!...

Press Releases

Findings from the Third Annual Industry Trends Survey

WealthCounsel, a nationwide organization of estate planning attorneys, and Trusts & Estates magazine today released the results of the Third Annual Industry Trends Survey which was released at the 44th Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning educational conference....

2009 Events