You May Need a Revocable Trust With Your Power of Attorney
Everyone should have a durable power of attorney in place that appoints someone to act for them if they become unable to do so. However, in some circumstances, this legal document may not be enough. [...]
Crummey Trust: A Safe Way to Give Financial Gifts to Minors
Many parents and grandparents want to pass their wealth to their children while they are still alive. Gifts to children or grandchildren can be a good way to reduce a taxable estate. At the same [...]
What Are the Benefits of Having a Testamentary Trust?
There are various benefits to creating a testamentary trust. This article discusses the benefits of adding a testamentary trust to your estate plan. What Is a Testamentary Trust? A testamentary trust allows a testator to manage [...]
Removing a Trustee in New Jersey
The grantor of a living trust often serves as trustee during his or her lifetime, appointing a successor trustee to step into that role when the grantor dies or becomes incapacitated. The grantor of a [...]
Avoid These 8 Common Estate Planning Mistakes
The most common and most significant estate planning error is failing to plan at all. About half of U.S. adults don’t even have a will, arguably the most basic estate planning document. Unfortunately, many of [...]
Tips for Choosing a Trustee
Trusts can be a powerful tool for protecting assets, passing property to loved ones after your death, or providing for a loved one who is disabled or incapacitated. You can work with your trust attorney [...]
How A Living Trust Helps Your Family
There are several parts to an estate plan, one of them being a living trust. Common factors that prompt someone to create a trust include privacy, tax benefits, avoiding probate, and caring for family members [...]
What are the Duties of the Administrator of a New Jersey Estate?
Serving as the administrator of an estate is more complex than many people anticipate. Whether you’re choosing the administrator you’ll name in your will or have been appointed administrator and are unsure of your responsibilities, [...]
Living Trust Maintenance is Key
Many people opt for a living trust over more traditional means of estate planning because of benefits such as: A smoother, shorter transition after death Lower costs of administration after death Flexibility during the grantor’s [...]
Do You Really Need a Trust?
Although many people equate “estate planning” with having a will, there are many advantages to having a trust rather than a will as the centerpiece of your estate plan. While there are other estate planning [...]
Are Trusts Still Useful If the Estate Tax Is Repealed?
With Republicans in control of Congress and the presidency, there is talk of eliminating the federal estate tax. In 2017 the tax affects only estates over $5.49 million, meaning that for more than 99 percent of [...]
3 Ways Your Trust Can Help a Loved One With Mental Illness
When a loved one suffers from a mental illness, one small comfort can be knowing that your trust can take care of them through thick and thin. There are some ways this can happen, ranging [...]
Will v. Living Trust: What’s the Difference?
People often ask whether a will or a living trust is “better.” The answer is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer. The right structure for your estate plan depends on the size of your estate, [...]
How Your Trust Can Help a Loved One Who Struggles with Addiction
Substance addiction is by no means rare, impacting as many as one in seven Americans. Because of its prevalence, navigating a loved one’s addiction is actually a relatively common topic in everyday life. But you [...]
Does a Dynasty Trust Make Sense for Your Family?
Earlier this year, NBA team owner Gail Miller made headlines when she announced that she was effectively no longer the owner of the Utah Jazz or the Vivint Smart Home Arena. These assets, she said, [...]
Who Should Be Your Successor Trustee?
If you have a revocable living trust, you probably named yourself as trustee so you can continue to manage your own financial affairs, but eventually someone will need to step in for you when you [...]
How to Choose a Trustee
If you create an irrevocable trust, you will need a separate person or institution, called a trustee, to manage the trust either now or in the future. Choosing the right trustee is crucial to making sure [...]
3 Famous Pet Trust Cases and the Lessons We Can Learn from Them
Things don’t always go according to plan. On the other hand, sometimes pet owners can get a bit creative when providing for their pets. Let’s take a look now at 3 famous cases involving pet [...]
Why a Trust Is the Best Option for Avoiding Probate
As Ambrose Bierce once darkly observed, “Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.” Obviously, ideally, when someone passes away, the paperwork and material concerns associated with the estate are so [...]
3 Famous Pet Trust Cases and the Lessons We Can Learn from Them
Not long ago, pet trusts were thought of as little more than eccentric things that famous people did for their pets when they had too much money. These days, pet trusts are considered mainstream. For [...]
An Overview of the IRC Section 2704 Proposal
Section 2704 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) pertains to family-controlled corporations and partnerships, specifically dealing with gratuitous transfers between family members in connection with the family owned business. According to IRC, the IRS can [...]
5 Mistakes Made by Successor Trustees (and How to Prevent Them)
When establishing a trust, you need to give serious thought to choosing your successor trustee—the person who will administer your trust once you’re no longer able to do so. This individual ideally should be: Someone [...]
Transferring a Mortgaged Property into a Living Trust
Estimates from online real estate search firm Zillow indicate that nearly one-third of homeowners own their home free and clear. For the unlucky two-thirds who have either one or multiple mortgages on their home and [...]
Stepped-Up Basis in Inherited Assets
When considering leaving property to beneficiaries, tax considerations factor heavily in estate planning. Since one is hard pressed to find any aspect of our life (and death) that is not subject to some form of [...]
Why Most Estate Plans Do Not Work
Estate planning can be a tedious and complicated process, which if not conducted properly can result in assets being wasted due to being placed in expensive probate proceedings or unduly subjected to creditor claims and [...]
Do You Need to Avoid Probate?
Probate is the legal process of presenting your Will to the Court after your death to authenticate it, and appoint your Executor. Your Executor must be appointed by the Court in order to collect and [...]
Who Needs Estate Planning?
Estate planning isn’t about how much money you have, it's about protecting what you have for you, during your lifetime and for those you love after you’re gone. It ensures what you have gets to [...]
Keeping Control of Your Trust
Every different form of trust contains its unique benefits and drawbacks that depend on an individual’s estate planning needs. One particular example involves the choice between irrevocable and revocable trusts. As the name implies, an [...]
Updating Your Revocable Trust: How Many “Tweaks” Are Too Many?
If your life or the law has changed since you signed your trust, it needs to be updated. Updates can be made by way of an amendment - or - a complete restatement. An amendment [...]
Decanting: How to Fix a Trust That Isn’t Getting Better With Age
While many wines get better with age, the same cannot be said for some irrevocable trusts. Maybe you’re the beneficiary of trust created by your great grandfather over seventy years ago and that trust no [...]
Escape From a Bad Trust: 5 Strong Reasons to Decant Your Trust
When a bottle of wine is decanted, it’s poured from one container into another. When a trust is decanted, trust assets are poured from an old trust into a new trust with more favorable terms. [...]
3 Examples of When an Irrevocable Trust Can – and Should – Be Modified
Did you know that irrevocable trusts can be modified? If you didn’t, you’re not alone. The name lends itself to that very belief. However, the truth is that changes in the law, family, trustees, and [...]
Don’t Leave Your Trust Unguarded: 6 Key Ways a Trust Protector Can Help You
Trust protectors are a fairly new and commonly used protection in the United States. In short, a trust protector is someone who serves as an appointed authority over a trust that will be in effect [...]
Irrevocable Trust Decanting in 4 Steps
We all need a “do over” from time to time. Life changes, the law changes, and professionals learn to do things in better ways. Change is a fact of life - and the law. Unfortunately, [...]
Wills, Trusts & Dying Intestate: How They Differ
Most people understand that having some sort of an estate plan is, as Martha Stewart would say, a “good thing.” However, many of us don’t take the steps to get that estate plan in place [...]
Wills vs. Trusts: A Quick & Simple Reference Guide
Confused about the differences between wills and trusts? If so, you’re not alone. While it’s always wise to contact experts like us, it’s also important to understand the basics. Here’s a quick and simple reference [...]
10 Types of Trusts: A Quick Look
Considering the myriad of trusts available, creating an estate plan that works can seem daunting. However, that’s what we, as estate planning attorneys, do every day. We know the laws and will design a plan [...]
Revocable Trust vs. Irrevocable Trust: Which Is Best for You?
Trusts allow you to avoid probate, minimize taxes, provide organization, maintain control, and provide for yourself and your heirs. In its most simple terms, a trust is a book of instructions wherein you tell your [...]
Are Handwritten Intentions Enforceable? Princess Diana Thought So…
Princess Diana of Wales was one of the world’s most loved celebrities – and one of the richest. Her tragic death in 1997 was world news. The majority of her estate, reportedly worth $40 million [...]
Doris Duke’s Trustee Bilked Estate for $1M: How Well Do You Know Yours?
Choosing a trustee is a very personal matter and should never be left to chance. Doris Duke, heiress of Duke’s energy and tobacco fortunes, didn’t seem to know her trustee very well at all. After [...]
Wills Vs. Trusts: Take Control of Your Wealth Distribution!
You work hard for your money and want to ensure that your wealth distribution goes according to your wishes upon death. Sadly, many people simply don't understand the difference between wills and trusts and how [...]
How to Avoid Sending Your Loved Ones (and Assets) through Probate
Today many people are using a revocable living trust instead of a will or joint ownership as the foundation of their estate plan. When properly prepared, a living trust will avoid the public, costly and [...]
The Lifetime QTIP Trust: How to Maintain Control of Your Estate and Keep Spouse No. 2 Happy
Estate planning for couples in a second or later marriage who have disproportionate estates can be tricky. One solution for allowing the well-to-do spouse to maintain control of their assets but keep their other half [...]
5 Reasons Why Uncle Bill May Not Make a Good Trustee
If you have created a dynasty trust that you intend to last for decades into the future, choosing the right trustee is critical to the trust’s longevity and ultimate success. Initially you may think that [...]
Is a Revocable Living Trust Right for You?
Revocable Living Trusts have become the basic building block of estate plans for people of all ages, personal backgrounds, and financial situations. But for some, a Revocable Living Trust may not be necessary to achieve [...]
Who’s Going to Get It: Do You Really Know the Beneficiaries of Your Dynasty Trust?
Today many estate plans contain irrevocable dynasty trusts that will continue for the benefit of a spouse’s lifetime and then for the benefit of several generations. Since these trusts are designed to span multiple decades, [...]
How Powers of Appointment Can Improve Your Trust
Today many estate plans contain trusts that will continue for the benefit of a spouse’s lifetime and then for the benefit of several generations. Since these trusts are designed to span multiple decades, it is [...]
3 Powers to Consider Giving to a Trust Protector
Today many estate plans contain irrevocable trusts that will continue for the benefit of a spouse’s lifetime and then for the benefit of several generations. Since these trusts are designed to span multiple decades, it [...]
The Wrong Successor Trustee Can Derail Your Final Wishes
Today many estate plans contain irrevocable trusts that will continue for the benefit of a surviving spouse’s lifetime and then for the benefit of several generations. Since these trusts are designed to span multiple decades, [...]
4 Tips for Avoiding a Will or Trust Contest
A will or trust contest can derail your final wishes, rapidly deplete your estate, and tear your loved ones apart. But with proper planning, you can help your family avoid a potentially disastrous will or [...]
An Estate Planning Checklist to Facilitate Wealth Transfer
Studies have shown that 70% of family wealth is lost by the end of the second generation and 90% by the end of the third. Help your loved ones avoid becoming one of these statistics. [...]
Strategies for Reducing the Income Tax Squeeze on Irrevocable Trusts
Under federal income tax laws, irrevocable, non-grantor trusts (such as Bypass Trusts and Dynasty Trusts) are subject to highly compressed income tax brackets. In 2014, the top 39.6% tax rate kicks in at only $12,500 [...]
Lifetime QTIP Trusts – The Gift That Keeps Giving
Estate planning for married couples can be tricky when one spouse is significantly wealthier than the other and each spouse wants different beneficiaries to ultimately inherit their estate. One solution to this problem is the [...]
Discretionary Trusts – How to Protect Your Beneficiaries From Bad Decisions and Outside Influences
Leaving your hard-earned assets outright to your children, grandchildren or other beneficiaries after you die will make their inheritance easy prey for creditors, predators, and divorcing spouses. Instead, consider using discretionary trusts for the benefit [...]
The Trust Protection Myth: Your Revocable Trust Protects Against Lawsuits
WARNING: Many people believe once they set up a Revocable Living Trust and transfer assets into the Trust, those assets are protected from lawsuits. This is absolutely not true. While Trusts commonly provide asset protection [...]
Will Your Revocable Living Trust Avoid Probate? It Depends.
If you’ve set up a Revocable Living Trust, congratulations! You’re definitely on the right track. But…you’re only half way there. Many believe because they took the time to create a Trust, their estate will automatically [...]
AB Trusts – Do You Need to Get Rid of Yours?
Are you married and is the last time you and your spouse updated your estate plan more than a few years ago? Then chances are your estate plan contains good old “AB Trust” planning (also [...]
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Inherited IRAs are Not Protected from Creditors
On June 12, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court—in a unanimous decision—ruled that Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) inherited by anyone other than a spouse are not retirement funds and therefore are not protected from the beneficiary’s [...]