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Category: D.C. Estate Planning

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Do Cryogenics and Estate Planning Mix?

MP900309088[1]Estate planning faces a challenge, if death is not a certainty.

Cryogenics could create challenges for tax authorities and estate planners, according to Wealth Management in "Do Zombies Pay Taxes?"

One of the bigger questions is how the estate of a person who dies and is expected to come back to life at a later date, should be taxed and distributed. Government will have to wrestle with whether the estate tax should apply.

For people planning their estates, the challenges are even greater. They will need to decide how much of their assets should be set aside for their own future life and how much should be distributed to their families who will need to survive in the interim.

Reference: Wealth Management (Dec. 20, 2017) "Do Zombies Pay Taxes?"

 

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New Tax Law Creates New Advantages

Pexels-photo-209224It might be wise to take a fresh look at your estate plan for new options.

Many estate plans will need to be changed to take advantage of the new tax laws, according to the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog in "A Gift from the New Tax Act: Kill That Trust."

One of the key changes for estate planning purposes, is that the estate tax exemption has been doubled.

Thais means people with estate plans that created trusts for the sole purpose of limiting their estate tax exposure may want to revisit their plans. They might now be better off revising those trusts or even getting rid of them altogether.

An estate law attorney can advise you on creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances and may include a trust or dealing with the doubling of the estate law exemption.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Dec. 26, 2017) "A Gift from the New Tax Act: Kill That Trust."

 

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Tax Reform and People with Disabilities

Pexels-photo-265702Republican tax plans have some people with disabilities worried. For parents and grandparents of those people with disabilities, it suggests that a special needs trust is more important than ever.

The ramifications of the new Republican tax reform for individual Americans are still being assessed.

Some people will pay lower taxes, but a few will likely see their taxes increase. One group concerned about the new law was people with disabilities.

Not only will those with disabilities enjoy the standard deduction doubling under the Republican plan, but their taxes might decrease even further due to another provision. The plan includes a provision to lower the itemized deduction threshold for health care expenses in tax years 2017 and 2018. The new tax law lowers the deductibility threshold from 10% to 7.5% of adjusted gross income.

Not until 2019 will the threshold increase return back to 10% where it was pegged in 2016.

Accordingly, the fears expressed by The Hill in "Restructured tax code would unduly burden people with disabilities" did not come to pass.

There is something parents and grandparents of the disabled, as well as the disabled themselves, can do and that is create a special needs trust. These trusts do not ease anyone's tax burden but do allow people with special needs to have more income to help cover any increased taxes.

If you would like to learn more about special needs trusts, then talk to an estate planning attorney Bethesda Maryland for the details about setting one up.

The process is complicated and needs to be done in a particular way in order to work but an experienced attorney can help you with that.

Reference: The Hill (Nov. 24, 2017) "Restructured tax code would unduly burden people with disabilitie

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Incapacity Planning

MP900442500[1]It is important that you make plans for what will happen to your family and your possessions after you pass away. It is also important to plan for what will happen to them, if you are incapacitated.

You might be aware that you need a will or a trust, so you can make sure your family is taken care of after you pass away. Getting a will or trust also lets you determine what happens to your property after you pass away.

If you have not done so, you really should see an estate planning attorney to get a will or trust as soon as possible, just in case.

While you are at the attorney’s office, you should also get plans for what might happen if you become incapacitated, as the Times Herald-Record discusses in “Make plans in case you are incapacitated.”

The issue is that if you are incapacitated, someone else needs the legal authority to act on your behalf.

Someone will need to be able to handle your bills and to make medical decisions for you, should it be necessary.

If you do not plan ahead, it can be a difficult process for someone else to get the legal authority.

Someone will have to hire an attorney and go to court to get a judge’s permission to act as your guardian.

Fortunately, planning for what will happen if you become incapacitated is not difficult.

You just need a general durable power of attorney and a health care power of attorney.

The estate planning attorney can prepare both of them for you.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (Dec. 12, 2017) “Make plans in case you are incapacitated.”

 

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Plan for Death to Live Better

Bigstock-Family-Portrait-At-Christmas-4881212[1]It might not seem intuitive.  However, if you make plans for your death, you can sometimes live a better life.

People do not ordinarily engage in “death” planning. We tend to think there might be something wrong with people who do.

We might think they are overly morbid, if not suicidal.

If they are a friend or family member, we might even encourage them to get professional help. However, there is a type of death planning that is good and one people should consider doing.

In fact, it can help them live more fruitful lives, as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog explains in "How Planning For Your Death Can Help You Live A More Purposeful Life."

What is meant by good death planning is planning for what will happen to your assets after you pass away and planning for how you want to be remembered after you are gone.

We call these “estate” planning and “legacy” planning.

Estate planning starts with deciding who you want to have your assets and personal possessions after you pass away. After that, you can go to an estate planning attorney who will prepare legal documents to make your wishes enforceable.

Legacy planning is not quite as simple. It requires thinking about what is important in your life and figuring out how to impart that to the people you will leave behind.

If you do undertake estate and legacy planning, then you will have a better understanding of what will happen after you pass away.

That, in turn, will help you to live better now.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Nov. 23, 2017) "How Planning For Your Death Can Help You Live A More Purposeful Life."

 

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Duke’s Will to Be Unsealed

image from commons.wikimedia.orgThe Duke of Windsor's will has been sealed since his death in 1972. The will of the man once known as King Edward VIII has been ordered unsealed, so copyrights can be determined for a television show.

It is considered one of the biggest acts of romantic love in modern history. King Edward VIII of England abdicated the throne in 1936, so he could marry a divorced American woman named Wallis Simpson.

His title changed from the king to the Duke of Windsor. He passed away in 1972.

The contents of his will were quickly sealed by the court and have never been made public, despite great public and historical interest in them. People are curious whether the will might shed any light on the man's decision to abdicate.

A court in the U.K. has now ruled that the will is to be unsealed as the Daily Mail reports in "Duke of Windsor's will to be unsealed at last… but only so The Crown's writers can get their facts straight."

The Duke's will is only to be unsealed for a limited purpose.

The writers of the Netflix show The Crown would like to use the duke's letters in their show. However, they first need to know who owns the copyrights to those letters, so they can get the necessary permissions to use them.

It is not likely the will's other details will be made public.

For a former king's will to be sealed, is probably a simple matter.

For other people, it is much more difficult since wills are generally a matter of public knowledge.

People who would like to keep their estates private, should see an estate planning attorney for more information about how to do that.

Reference: Daily Mail (Nov. 15, 2017) "Duke of Windsor's will to be unsealed at last… but only so The Crown's writers can get their facts straight."

 

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Using a Trust for Educational Funding

MP900442227[1]Educational costs have risen so high, that accumulating the money to pay for a child or grandchild to attend college can take years. There are a few different ways to do it.

You might have heard the nightmare stories about people with college degrees who end up owing more than a hundred thousand dollars to the government in student loans. That is becoming such a common scenario, that the majority of Americans now support the idea that public colleges should be tuition free.

However, tuition free college is probably not a realistic scenario in the near future.

Families who do not want their younger generations to have to pay back gigantic student loan debts are making plans to have parents and grandparents pay for school.

There are a couple of different options as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog discussed in "Funding Education? Consider A Trust Instead of a 529 Plan."

A 529 plan is a great way for families to save for education.

It allows for tax-free investments for educational expenses. However, the investment opportunities can be somewhat limited and people can only sign up for plans that are made available from state governments.

People with more money would be better off using trusts for educational expenses.

With trusts there are more investment options and if the money is not needed for educational expenses, then it can more easily be used for other things.

If you would like to make paying for the education of future generations of your family part of your estate, then talk to an estate planning attorney about the best way to do that.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Nov. 16, 2017) "Funding Education? Consider A Trust Instead of a 529 Plan."

 

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Do Not Neglect Estate Planning

Bigstock-Attractive-Mixed-Race-Couple-P-9992345[1]If you do not have a will, it might be assumed that your assets will go to your spouse or children. But you might very well be wrong.

For centuries the only people who bothered to make detailed estate plans were the wealthy. Most people had very few assets and did not have a great need to make detailed plans. Some people chose to draft a simple will, but most did not do even that.

Even today people still tend to think of estate planning as something really only necessary for wealthy people. Other people with lesser means tend to assume that if they do not do any estate planning they do not need to worry. They think their spouse or children will inherit their assets and they do not need to bother actually drafting a will. In Maryland

That is a mistake as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog explained in "Estate Planning Is Not Just for the Ultra-Rich Anymore."

If you do not have an estate plan, then any assets you have at the time of your death will be distributed according to the laws of intestate succession in your state.

In some states, that means your assets will pass to your spouse and your children. However, other states have different laws and they sometimes give assets to people who might not have been included in an estate plan, such as siblings and parents.  In Maryland, without a will, 1/2 goes to the spouse and 1/2 to the minor children. Do you want your 5 year old to inherit half?  If you want more control, then hire an estate planning attorney.  In DC a spouse and minor children inherit, without a will, as well.  In order to minimize the costs of probate, however, you will need an estate plan.

It is not difficult to get a will from an estate planning attorney.

There is no reason you should leave things up to state law.

Get an estate plan and make sure that your assets are distributed as you choose.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Nov. 16, 2017) "Estate Planning Is Not Just for the Ultra-Rich Anymore."

 

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Estate Planning Is Ongoing Process

MP900439295[1]It is not enough to get an estate plan once and leave it alone for all time. It needs to be constantly reviewed and updated to take account of changing circumstances.

Some people can get away with getting an estate plan once and never looking at it again. If someone never gets divorced, remarried, has more children or increases assets, then the first estate plan they get might be good enough for the rest of their lives.

This is true, even if that estate plan was written 50 years before the person passes away.

However, most people's lives are not that constant.

In fact, most people have significant changes in their lives as they get older.

When things change, then estate plans normally need to be changed as well, as Forbes discusses in "Why Continuous Estate Planning Is Essential For the Rich and Super-Rich."

The more wealth that you have, the more often you will probably need to change your estate plan.

This is because your assets will grow, how you hold those assets will change and tax laws will also change.

Nevertheless, it is not just the wealthy who need to constantly review and update their estate plans.

Everyone should do so, whenever there is a significant change in their lives that should be reflected in an estate plan.

Examples of these changes include divorce, remarriage, a new child, a new higher paying job, a new grandchild and much more.

If you have not changed your estate plan recently, then take a look at it.

Ask yourself whether it still does what you want it to do, given all the changes in your life.

If the answer is no or even maybe not, then talk to an estate planning attorney.

Reference: Forbes (Sep. 6, 2017) "Why Continuous Estate Planning Is Essential For the Rich and Super-Rich."

 

 

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Estate Planning Is Ongoing Process

MP900439295[1]It is not enough to get an estate plan once and leave it alone for all time. It needs to be constantly reviewed and updated to take account of changing circumstances.

Some people can get away with getting an estate plan once and never looking at it again. If someone never gets divorced, remarried, has more children or increases assets, then the first estate plan they get might be good enough for the rest of their lives.

This is true, even if that estate plan was written 50 years before the person passes away.

However, most people's lives are not that constant.

In fact, most people have significant changes in their lives as they get older.

When things change, then estate plans normally need to be changed as well, as Forbes discusses in "Why Continuous Estate Planning Is Essential For the Rich and Super-Rich."

The more wealth that you have, the more often you will probably need to change your estate plan.

This is because your assets will grow, how you hold those assets will change and tax laws will also change.

Nevertheless, it is not just the wealthy who need to constantly review and update their estate plans.

Everyone should do so, whenever there is a significant change in their lives that should be reflected in an estate plan.

Examples of these changes include divorce, remarriage, a new child, a new higher paying job, a new grandchild and much more.

If you have not changed your estate plan recently, then take a look at it.

Ask yourself whether it still does what you want it to do, given all the changes in your life.

If the answer is no or even maybe not, then talk to an estate planning attorney.

Reference: Forbes (Sep. 6, 2017) "Why Continuous Estate Planning Is Essential For the Rich and Super-Rich."