If you’re a member of the Baby Boomer generation, you would be well advised to read this demographic study regarding investment returns and retirement planning. If we can help you optimize your estate plan for your retirement needs, please give us a call or send us an email, and we look forward to meeting with you.
(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
The Wall Street Journal has this interesting article on offshore estate planning tactics with reference to Mitt Romney’s IRA. If I can help you with offshore or domestic estate planning issues, please call me at your convenience.
(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
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.
Robert Frank, of the Wall Street Journal’s Wealth Report blog, offers this reflection on practical problems of a wealth tax. A wealth tax sounds like a variation of a property tax, which has historically been a local or state level levy. Just as various deductions, loopholes, and definitions of “income” have developed in the income tax context, so one would expect similar issues for a wealth tax (including valuation issues discussed in the article by Mr. Frank). A wealth tax is the wrong message to send to entrepreneurs and capitalists – we’re going to punish your success. And economics teaching that tax increases in a down economy are counterproductive. What do you think? Do you support or oppose a wealth tax? Why?
(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.
Some news you can use, for lawyers and accountants (and others) preparing or filing 2011 tax returns. Because April 15, the traditional tax deadline, falls on a Sunday in 2012 and the 16th is a D.C. holiday (Emancipation Day), your 2011 tax returns won’t be due until Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Of course, you can still file for a 6 month extension via Form 4868, which pushes your (individual income tax) due date out to October 15, 2012 (the IRS also has extension forms for other filers). As one of Kansas City’s favorite sons (and H&R Block co-founder), Henry Bloch, titled his memoir, Many Happy Returns! It’s a good book that relates a fascinating story of perseverance and growing a family business into an accounting and tax empire, written with warmth and charming anecdotes by a gem of a gentleman.
If I can help you with your individual, corporate, or fiduciary tax returns for 2011, give me a call or send me an email.
(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.
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 2010 holiday season descended upon America, Congress passed and President Obama signed an extension of the 2001 Bush tax cuts. The new tax law has many provisions that last until the 2012 election, but most significant for our purposes are the new estate tax and the new gift tax. The federal estate tax is now 35% on any estates over $5 million for a single person or $10 million for a married couple. The new gift tax is 50% of any gift to a person of over $13,000 per year with the lifetime exclusion (the maximum amount you can give to someone other than a spouse during your lifetime) now at $5 million from its prior $1 million threshold. Count on the 2001 Bush tax cut extension to be a big deal for President Obama and his Republican colleagues in 2012, especially with the economic cauldron of high unemployment, exploding deficits, promiscuous and unsustainable spending, a weakening dollar, states teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, and potential inflationary pressures, all boiling to a simmering storm of uncertainty and populist discontent.
Many estate planning attorneys, including many that I have talked with in the Kansas City area, find these new developments very troublesome. Won’t it eliminate our clients? Not many people have $5 or $10 million, the argument goes. Those that do already have relationships with private banks, investment firms, and noted law firms. Does anyone still need a trust? Or do we simply terminate trusts and execute new I-love-you wills that leave everything to the spouse and children? Won’t that kill our revenue streams from trust drafting and asset re-titling? Is it worth it to be an estate planning attorney any more? These are all good questions that need to be answered and I plan to answer soon in much more detail.
For now, let’s focus on what every client needs: (1) a will (2) a living will (3) a durable medical power of attorney and (4) a durable financial power of attorney. Anyone over the age of 18 who doesn’t have these legal instruments in place risks catastrophic consequences a la Terri Schiavo and Nancy Cruzan if they get in a car accident or die leaving student loan debt (or other secured debts, like a home mortgage) for their parents (buying life insurance to pay these debts off may be wise). If you are married or have children, the stakes are even higher – your spouse might have to probate your estate and get the Court to appoint them Guardian and Conservator of your child.
Maybe you’re an individual and figure you’re fine, you don’t drive a Ferrari or have millions of dollars, so you don’t need an estate plan, right? Wrong. An estate plan doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated, but you need one, whether you’re Bill Gates or Bob Jones the college student. Call (913-707-9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) if I can help.
(C) 2011, Stephen M. Johnson
Estate Planning, Entrepreneurial, and Entertainment Law
Estate Planning, Entrepreneurial, and Entertainment Law
The KC Estate Planner 