The Wall Street Journal offers some interesting insights about different ways families can keep a vacation home or similar special property in the family for generations to come while minimizing taxes. If I can help you pass your vacation home on to the next generation in your family, give me a call at your convenience.
(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
CNBC offers this advice to parents whose children want more money. If you need counsel on estate planning or gifting options to your children, give me a call to schedule a convenient appointment.
(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
As much as some populists would like us to think that the 1% fit into a mold and are as predictable and uniform as the rising sun each morning, the New York Times provides a more nuanced portrait of the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
Estate planning tactics look to become a hot political issue this election cycle. The Daily Mail reports on rumors that former Gov. and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney may have a small fortune in offshore bank accounts. Of course, affluent Democrats and Republicans alike engage in estate planning, including some controversial tactics. Having an offshore bank account or trust is perfectly legal assuming that the formalities and tax reporting requirements are followed. But in politics, facts often matter less than perceptions, feelings, and opinion. If I can help you with questions about trusts, estate planning, or offshore bank accounts, please call me at your convenience.
(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
This Daily Mail article highlights a classic case of lawyers (and accountants) getting removed from a case by the judge because of conflicts of interest, in the Clark case, for each being slated for an $8 million bequest from the estate. This is a classic legal ethics question that confronts estate planning attorneys – can the lawyer accept a gift from the estate of the deceased? Short answer is “no.” If a lawyer drafts estate planning documents for family members, the relative is entitled to independent legal counsel if they so choose and the lawyer may not receive more than an intestate share of the estate (e.g. what they would’ve received if the relative had died without a will). A client can theoretically leave gifts to their lawyer or other professional advisors in a will or trust, but those gifts are automatically suspect and best practice is to only be paid your attorney’s fees and not accept gifts from a client’s estate.
If you need legal counsel with year end estate planning or if you’re an attorney who has a conflict of interest and need independent legal counsel to help, give me a call or send me an email. Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year – 2012, here we come!
(c) 2011, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
Interesting NY Times article about business owners thinking of selling in the current economy. There’s a wonderful piece of old-fashioned, homespun wisdom quoted: “success is when opportunity and preparation intersect.” Successful business people have to be alert for new and emerging opportunities to capitalize on those venues and maximize their enterprise profitability. Perhaps a few business successes come down to being in the right place in the right time, serendipity, or luck, but most business people (and certainly most lawyers) would say that chance favors the prepared – you have to do your homework, which will often show you openings or opportunities that your competitors don’t see. Or as one early rising quipster put it, the comfort of being awake near dawn is “my competition is still sleeping,” so an edge or lead can be acquired. In this economy, business people and successful individuals must capitalize on every edge or lead they can find or create to distinguish themselves and get ahead.
The article’s advice reminds me of a piece of financial/investment advice I read a couple years ago in The Great Depression Ahead by (gloom and doom) economist Harry S. Dent. If I can help you in the process of selling your business or thinking about the pros and cons of the sale decision, give me a call or email me to set up a convenient appointment. If you are going to sell your business, getting the wheels of the deal in motion before December 31 is ideal for tax purposes.
(c) 2011, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
Interesting article from the Los Angeles Times. Apparently many Baby Boomers are frowning on leaving an inheritance for their children, including many in the millennial generation. A U.S. Trust (Bank of America’s trust division) survey finds that 49% of millionaires in the Baby Boomer generation don’t plan to leave their children an inheritance. A variety of factors may be in play: (1) people living longer (and corresponding fear of outliving savings), (2) the economic fallout on people’s retirement savings, (3) enjoying spending the wealth that they themselves worked hard to accumulate, (4) helping support elderly parents or adult children who’ve been displaced by economic woes, (5) don’t want to spoil kids or give them a sense of entitlement, and other issues. One Baby Boomer said, “If [my kids] can’t make it on their own now, they can never make it. I’ve done my job. Now I’m going to enjoy life.”
This may also be tied to a developing trend among the very wealthy – billionaires pledging to give their fortunes to charity. From a tax and estate planning perspective, Baby Boomers would be well advised to remember the increased gifting opportunities available during 2011 and 2012 ($26,000 combined gifts from husband and wife per donee each year, $5 million lifetime gift tax exemption). In some situations, it may also make sense for Baby Boomers to give their children inter-family loans to help with the purchase of a car, home, or business interest, or to consider various business succession options. Additionally, leveraging trusts, especially multigenerational trusts, is a wise idea in some cases to preserve great amounts of wealth for future generations. Charitable giving is always a wonderful idea to help others and leave a legacy of generosity.
If many of these Baby Boomers disclaimed inheritances from their parents, this study would be misleading, because the bulk of the inheritance would already be waiting in trust for the millennials. If the study is accurate, it may mean that the great structural transfer of wealth between generations (estimated in the trillions) may be much ado about nothing, as Shakespeare would say. Please call me or email me if I can help you or your family with these important estate planning issues.
(c) 2011, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
CNBC has this story of a family who benefited greatly from doing basic estate planning, when the unexpected happened and the father and family patriarch died suddenly. Every adult – regardless of age, wealth level, or other factors – needs a will, a living will, and medical and financial durable powers of attorney. To live life without these basic estate planning documents is to play Russian roulette with your future and your family’s.
(c) 2011, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq. All rights reserved.
As the United States Government’s spending continues to reach stratospheric levels and outpace tax revenues by over $1 trillion per year, and push against the statutory debt ceiling (the amount the U.S. Treasury is legally allowed to borrow to pay the Government’s bills), there is an important lesson for estate planners and families setting up trusts to provide for future generations.
The debt crisis lesson is be sure you have enough money in your trust to provide for the unexpected. Uniform Trust Code sec. 414(a) provides that a trust may be terminated by the court after the trustee provides notice to the beneficiaries if the amount held in trust is less than $50,000 (the UTC’s suggested amount, which adopting states are free to change), because maintaining a trust with a smaller amount would be uneconomical. My home state of Kansas, which was the first state to adopt the Uniform Trust Code in 2003, allows a court to terminate a trust containing less than $100,000. K.S.A. 58a-414(a).
Is your trust properly funded? Does it contain enough money to provide for you and your family if the unexpected occurs, or a rainy day arrives? Do yourself and your family a favor – be sure your trust is properly funded.
(c) 2011, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq. All rights reserved.
Bloomberg provides an excellent and accessible intro to dynasty trusts and the great features families can use to multiply wealth across generations. The article highlights some legal differences between various dynasty trust jurisdictions – such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware – and some unique provisions of Delaware trust law that may be especially attractive to estate planning clients and families contemplating business succession issues, including expanded protections against creditors and civil law suits (including lurking divorces).
The growth of dynasty trusts as a tool in the estate planner’s portfolio, especially for clients with significant wealth or business interests to be transferred to future generations, has been made possible by a phenomenon of states repealing their Rule Against Perpetuities statutes. A growing number of states have repealed the Rule Against Perpetuities, a relic of the old common law of property, and thus allowing perpetual or dynasty trusts. In the Kansas City area, Missouri allows dynasty trusts, but Kansas does not (having refused to repudiate the Rule Against Perpetuities). Currently, 28 states (and the District of Columbia) (56% of American states) allow dynasty trusts: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Expect that number to continue to grow steadily in the future, as more states vie for trust business.
Delaware may well become the bastion of trust law, just as it’s already the bastion of corporate law, thanks to its favorable corporate law statutes and the Chancery Court’s business-friendly jurisprudence.
(c) 2011, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq. All rights reserved.
Estate Planning, Entrepreneurial, and Entertainment Law
Estate Planning, Entrepreneurial, and Entertainment Law
The KC Estate Planner 