The Baby Boomer generation is approaching retirement, yet very few Boomers have taken adequate steps to plan for their final days. This has produced a generation of younger family members who find themselves in the position of wanting to plan their finances, yet they are unable to do so because they are not certain as to whether they will be receiving a significant inheritance from their aging parents. So what are these younger family members to do – (1) gamble by not doing anything and hoping for the best or (2) taking drastic measures to ensure that their futures are secure? Read the rest! »
As more baby boomers begin to retire and sell their businesses, there will be an increasing demand for alternative exit strategies that achieve the owner’s personal financial goals. This article discusses one structure for selling a business that establishes a stable income stream and a charitable deduction for the owner. Read the rest! »
Trusts can be structured to provide superior asset protection against creditor claims. Spendthrift trust 
provisions prevent creditors of the trust beneficiary from reaching the trust assets as long as the assets are held in the trust. This type of provision may or may not be upheld, depending on who created the trust and what the other provisions of the trust are.
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The question in Janis v. Commissioner is whether a taxpayer can claim that property has a low value for estate tax purposes and then turn around and claim that the property has a high value for income tax purposes. The Ninth Circuit said “no,” but the answer could have been different under slightly different facts. Read the rest! »
Our estate tax laws are currently in flux. The estate tax rules will be changing if Congress acts or if Congress fails to act. As a result of this uncertainty, everyone should take a few seconds to think about whether his or her estate plan will be effective. This post will describe three potential estate tax regimes that could materialize and then it will provide examples of a few basic estate-planning pitfalls that may inadvertently result from these estate tax law changes. Read the rest! »
Our uncertain estate-tax environment has made traditional estate planning more complicated; however, there are still some estate planning tools that are worth considering. The qualified personal residence trust (QPRT) is one such tool.
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