FEATURES

Beware the 529 Hype pg.9
Some advisors are suggesting it, but treating this college savings plan as a pure wealth-transfer vehicle is risky.
By Susan Hansen, contributing writer

The 800-lb Gorilla pg.14
The latest IRS stats confirm what estate planners have been seeing: Retirement accounts are becoming a bigger chunk of estates. Learn how to handle the resulting tax problems.
By Christopher Hoyt, University of Missouri (Kansas City) School of Law

Attention Trust Providers
It may be time to outsource your operations.
By Doug Smith, Spectrem Consulting

COMMITTEE REPORT: PHILANTHROPY & CHARITABLE GIVING

Generosity Will Prevail
And some traditional gift plans are particularly well suited to these economic times.
By Jeffrey Comfort, Georgetown University

It’s Legal. And It’s Wrong.
Stop the payment of commissions on charitable gift annuities.
By Craig C. Wruck, U.S. Trust

39 Do the QTIP/CRUT Combo
A case study.
By Conrad Teitell

44 When Charities Disappoint
What recourse do donors have?
By Ross Tucker, staff reporter

48 A Call To Activism
Donors can, and must, expect to measure charities’ results.
By Roger D. Silk, The Sterling Foundation

52 Wanted: Overseers
The number of family foundations is increasing—and so is the need for advisors to help them.
By Kathryn W. Miree, Kathryn W. Miree & Associates Inc.

COLUMNS

50 BACK TO SCHOOL: Problem Solving
You may be able to pay a grantor’s taxes out of his grantors trust and an insured’s taxes out of his life insurance trust.
By Roy M. Adams, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal 52 ENDNOTE: Come Together Convince the boards of family businesses to hold regular and formal meetings. By Pat Soldano, Cymric Family Office Services On the Cover: Olé! This is one of only 50 paintings by Antonio Ruiz, the highly acclaimed Mexican artist who was nicknamed “El Corcito,” because of his resemblence to a famous bullfighter with that name. Ruiz is known for painting surreal scenes of Mexican life, often featuring watermelons. This painting, El Lider/Orador (The Orator), was first exhibited in the 1940 International Exhibition of Surrealism. El Lider/Orador is scheduled to be auctioned in Sotheby’s evening sale of Latin American Art on Nov. 19, and is expected to go for $200,000 to $300,000. The piece is part of the Stanley Marcus estate, the marketing guru responsible for making Neiman Marcus department stores a household name. Marcus died in January at age 96. About 200 objects from the Marcus estate will be sold by Sotheby’s throughout this fall. All told the auction house expects the Marcus collection to bring in $7 million to $10 million. Among the other highlights are works from Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Georgia O’Keefe and Ruiz’s friend and countryman, Diego Rivera. –Alex McGrath