The Wall Street Journal and other sources have reported that President Obama wants to freeze the estate tax credit at its current level. This means that estates with less than $3.5 million in value can be transferred free of the estate tax at death. In other words, the vast majority of us (98%) won’t have [...]
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Here’s a good idea: Give guidance to your heirs, expected personal representative (executor or trustee) and loved ones by creating a Letter of Last Instructions. Tell your estate planning attorney, and proposed Excecutor or Trustee where it can be found, and leave it in that trusted place (safe deposit box or fire-proof safe – you [...]
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Posted in Estate Planning, Living Trusts on Mar 30th, 2009
Here’s a call I’ve started to get recently: My aging parent has a trust but she hasn’t transferred her home into it – what can I do? Most estate planning attorneys these days prepare a grant deed or quitclaim deed and transfer their clients’ primary residence into trust as part of their flat fee performance. [...]
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Posted in Living Trusts on Mar 17th, 2009
You should review your estate planning documents periodically. If it is not up to date when you die, your estate may not be distributed as you wish. Your Trust can be changed through an Amendment, a legal document that must be drafted and executed with the same procedure that applies to Trusts. Do not change [...]
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