Lawyers and wealth managers who specialize in passing assets to the next generation love to brag about their ultra high net worth clients. But privately they admit that many (or most) of those who seek their help with wills and trusts don’t fall in this category. And lately they would have us believe that tax planning for these folks, most notably those with assets in the $5 million to $10 million range, is very, very, challenging.

That was one of the continuing themes at the 2014 Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning in Orlando, the annual Super Bowl on the subject. The catalyst for the discussion among the 2,900 lawyers, accountants and insurance pros gathered there, was a planning device that Congress introduced on an interim basis starting in 2011 and made permanent with the American Taxpayer Relief Tax Act of 2012. Tax geeks dubbed it “portability.”…

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Estate Planning: What You Need to Know

August 27, 2015August 27, 2015Leave a comment

A useful article on getting started in your estate planning process, from the New York Times. Click here.

The article covers Wills, Living Wills and Medical Directives, Special-Needs Trusts, Estate Tax and more.

Estate planning rarely gets the attention it should get.

Saving for your children’s education, purchasing a second home, deciding when and how to retire — these are all topics that people talk about with their friends and their financial advisers. But deciding what happens to whatever is left of your money when you die is often passed over. It shouldn’t be, though, because it is crucial to a financial plan.

But not discussing something that is going to happen will not stop it from happening. And at some point, someone is going to have to sort out your estate — regardless of how big or small it is. Here are some of the key issues that should be addressed: