• About Us
• Customer Support

Estate Planning

Estate Planning - Overview, #101 Summary of Brief Estate planning provides for the orderly distribution of your assets and execution of your wishes in the event of death. An estate plan is a written expression of how you want your assets preserved during your lifetime and disposed of upon your death. It helps one to preserve the maximum amount of wealth possible for the intended beneficiaries and flexibility for the individual prior to death. …

Estate Planning – Family Limited Partnership, #102 Summary of Tax Brief Family limited partnership is a form of limited partnership in which all partners are members of one family. A limited partnership has both general partners (who run the partnership) and limited partners (who are passive investors) who have no say in the operation of the partnership. General partners have unlimited personal liability for partnership obligations, while limited partners have no liability beyond their capital contributions. …

Estate Planning – Grantor Retained Annuity Interest Trust, #103 Summary of Tax Brief A grantor retained annuity interest trust, or GRAT, is a good way to transfer assets to your children while minimizing your tax bill. They involve transferring one or more high-yield assets into an irrevocable trust and retaining the right to an annuity interest. When the retention period ends, assets in the trust (including all appreciation) go to the named “remainder” beneficiary or beneficiaries. …

Estate Planning – Installment Sale With a Self-Canceling Note, #104 Summary of Tax Brief This is a strategy that enables business owners to transfer their wealth to family members. With this strategy, the business owner sells his or her business interest under the installment sale method. The owner takes back an installment note, which is like any other installment note except that it contains a feature whereby the obligation to pay on the note ceases upon the business owner’s death. Since the buyer’s obligation to…

Estate Planning – Private Annuity, #105 Summary of Tax Brief A popular estate tax avoidance technique is to sell your business or other appreciated property you own to a family member or trusted employee while you’re alive in return for a private annuity, which is an unsecured promise by the buyer to make specific, periodic payments to you for the rest of your life. This removes your interest in the business from your estate while providing you with an annual income…

Estate Planning - Charitable Remainder Trust, #106 Summary of Brief Back in 1969, Congress created a new type of trust, the Charitable Remainder Trust, that was designed to help charities and not-for-profit organizations generate more revenue for their causes. In the past decade, the use of this trust has been gaining popularity. The Charitable Remainder Trust is one of the most efficient estate planning tools available to anyone holding assets that have experienced significant appreciation like stocks, real estate, a business, etc.…

Estate Planning – Section 529, #107 summary Qualified State Tuition Plans (QSTPs or Section 529 plans) established under Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code offer federal income tax deferral on earnings and may also provide state tax advantages. Section 529 plans can be a remarkably useful tool in reducing estate taxes. Anyone with a gross estate exceeding the amount that passes free of estate taxes (currently $1,000,000 less any prior taxable gifts) and who is not currently making annual gifts…

Estate Planning – Buy-Sell Agreement, #108 Summary Many business owners become so involved in the nuts and bolts of their business that they never address the issues they might face if one of the owners dies or is physically unable to operate the business. If you have one or more partners/owners in your business and do not have a buy-sell (or redemption) agreement, you may be asking for trouble. A Buy-Sell Agreement …

Estate Planning – Irrevocable Trusts, #109 A clever way to reduce your estate and gift taxes is to set up an “intentionally defective irrevocable trust,” which allows you to transfer a lot of money to your heirs during your lifetime without cutting the government in. This trust allows taxpayers to remove appreciating assets from their taxable estates at a low gift-tax cost, while providing liquidity at death to pay taxes and other estate costs. …