Charitable Lead Trusts: Jackie O, Recent Final Regulations and an Interesting Letter Ruling
Note From the Editor
When my name first appeared as editor in chief of Trusts & Estates in May 2010, the estate-planning world was up in the air. Practitioners were waiting...
Estate Planning for Negative Capital
Clients with long-term real estate holdings often have negative capital, which results from cashing out with refinancings and from depreciation. The body...
Using Lifetime Exemptions Today
By now, most of our clients are aware of the current historic opportunity to transfer significant wealth to their heirs free of gift taxes. Not since...
Tax Law Update
Expanding Petter, Tax Court upholds defined value clauses in favor of taxpayer In Wandry v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2012-88, the Tax Court upheld gifts...
Families Must Think Creatively
Families who have had to face the estate tax know that it can destabilize their family businesses and create major headaches for their children and grandchildren....
Living and Giving in 2012
The next eight months promise to be an important time for practitioners who advise clients on effective ways to make charitable gifts. While there's a...
Post-Mortem Action Can Limit Class Of Beneficiaries
In Private Letter Ruling 201203003 (Oct. 11, 2011), the decedent left his retirement plan benefits to a trust for the benefit of his wife. Upon his wife's...
A Glimpse Into the Future
Does anyone out there have a crystal ball to see what if anything Congress will do with transfer tax legislation as 2012 draws to a close? Like you, we're...
Adapting to Changing Circumstances
Uncertainty surrounding the estate and gift tax laws has created significant challenges for the estate-planning community. Reasonable minds may differ...
The Wandry Quandary
The Tax Court's March 26, 2012 memorandum decision in Wandry v. Commissioner1 is monumental for defined value clause (DVC) planning. Donors should now...
Exposing the Trust Protector
There's little question about the newfound popularity of trust protectors, which they're undoubtedly enjoying. And why not? They're entitled to a fee...
Discussing Gifting With Clients
The estate tax exclusion the amount of the gross estate free of any tax payment1 has increased to $5.12 million per person during 2012 and is scheduled...
Trust Planning in 2012 and Beyond
Estate planning is certainly interesting during these times of legislative, political, fiscal, tax and economic uncertainty. The current gift and generation-skipping...
Liable or Not?
With litigation on the rise, fiduciaries and their advisors are striving to reduce or eliminate risk and understand how time-worn fiduciary principles...
Gridlock Reigns Supreme
It's clear to me that no changes will be made to federal transfer tax laws this year. As we're all aware, the 112th Congress agrees on very little. It...
Statements of Wealth Transfer Intent
A deceased client can't comment on how his remaining personal property should be transferred. Is it any wonder then that the pre-death writing of a client's...
On The Cover
Practical Planning With Self-Canceling Installment Notes
Self-canceling installment notes (SCINs) are often discussed, but rarely used by our clients, until now. A SCIN involves the sale of an asset (for example,...
Out of the Shadows
Parents the world over worry about their children, particularly their ability to have success in their careers. Wealthy parents who plan to pass on their...
Life Insurance Product Suitability, Revisited
In a January 2010 Trusts & Estates article entitled The Estate Planner's Guide to Product Suitability,1 I suggested that it's imperative to have a process...
Note From the Editor
Before we recommend specific strategies to a client, we need to learn his estate-planning goals. That's why an open dialogue with a client is critical;...
Substituting a Life Insurance Policy in an Irrevocable Trust
On Dec. 1, 2011, the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Ruling 2011-28,1 which finally clarified that a life insurance policy in an irrevocable trust...
Managing Trust-Owned Life Insurance
In Part 1 of this article, published in the December 2011 issue of Trusts & Estates, I examined a lawyer's duty of care to trust beneficiaries and the...
On the Cover
Picasso has an interesting connection to the world of estate planning in that he spectacularly botched his own. He died on April 8, 1973 and left behind...
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