A Refresher Course: The Rules and Planning Strategies for Taking Required Minimum Distributions
If you have substantial savings in a traditional IRA or employer-sponsored retirement plan, you likely know that required minimum distributions (RMDs) must begin at a certain age. RMDs are taxable and, depending on your balances in these accounts, can even push you into a higher tax bracket.
Beyond the...
Estate Planning Red Flag – Your Trust Fails to Provide a Mechanism to Remove the Trustee
A trustee plays a central role in the administration of a trust, acting as the legal steward of assets on behalf of beneficiaries. This responsibility carries both authority and accountability. Trustees are charged with managing investments, distributing income or principal according to the trust document, maintaining accurate records, and acting in the...
Business Owners: Ensure Your Estate Plan and Asset Protection Plan Work in Tandem
When it comes to assets, your business is likely to be your most valuable. That’s why it’s important for your estate plan and your asset protection plan to complement each other. Each serves a distinct purpose, but when coordinated properly, they can help ensure that your wealth is preserved, liabilities are minimized...
Is an Electronic Will Right for You and Your Family?
Electronic wills—often called “e-wills”—are an emerging alternative to traditional paper-based estate planning documents. As more aspects of daily life move online, states are gradually adapting their laws to recognize wills that are created, signed and stored in digital form. This shift raises important questions about legality, security and whether an e-will is...
The QTIP Trust: A Powerful Planning Tool for Blended Families
Remarriages are increasingly common. According to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by age 55, nearly 27% of those who’ve married have done so two or more times. As a result, “blended” families — in which one or both spouses have children from a previous marriage — are also...
Clarity Counts:A Letter of Instruction can be a Valuable Addition to your Estate Plan
Most people understand the importance of having a valid will as part of their estate plans. A will helps ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes and can provide important legal guidance for your loved ones after your death. However, there’s another estate planning document that’s sometimes overlooked yet...
Closely held business owners, listen up! An Employee Stock Ownership Plan Can Benefit Your Estate Plan…
As an owner of a closely held business, you’re likely familiar with how an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) can offer an exit strategy and provide a tax-efficient technique for sharing equity with employees.
What you may not be aware of is that an ESOP can be a powerful...
Estate Planning Red Flag -You Didn’t Place Restrictions on your Charitable Gifts
Charitable giving allows you to support causes you care about while potentially reducing your estate tax burden. However, making unrestricted gifts to charity without careful estate planning can create unintended consequences that may diminish both your benefits and the long-term impact of the gifts.
An unrestricted gift gives a...
The Window of Opportunity:Legal Steps to Take When You First Notice Memory Problems
You have been seeing the signs for months. Mom or Dad has not quite been themselves lately. They are forgetting things more often: appointments, addresses, payments, names. The other day, they got lost going to a place they have frequented for years.
When you try to bring it up,...
A Dementia Diagnosis Changes More Than Healthcare – Seven Steps to Take While You Can
With dementia cases in the United States estimated to double by 2060—and roughly 42 percent of Americans over age 55 at risk of developing dementia according to recent research1—a diagnosis is something that more and more families will face.
The statistics are sobering in the abstract. They feel different...