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Q: My husband and I have real estate and other assets. Some assets are titled in our names as joint tenants, but most just have both of our names on the titles. What should we do for estate planning purposes?
A: You’ve asked for help in a complex area of the law. The complexity arises from the fact that different states recognize different kinds of property titles and those titles sometimes mean different things from state to state.
Correctly titling assets is important for estate planning because the way assets are titled determines how those assets are transferred to heirs when their owner ...
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Q: My husband and I have three children under age six. Do we need wills? A: You should each have a will for the benefit of your minor children. Here's why: If one of you dies the surviving parent will naturally continue as the children's guardian. But if both of you die your children will need to have a guardian appointed and the court will need assistance in determining who that person should be. Your individual wills allow you to name that guardian, someone who you believe to be the best person to care for and raise your children. You can ...
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Q: We’d like to begin giving some of our estate away to our children. How can we do that without paying gift taxes? A: According to current law you can give as much as $13,000 to each of any number of individuals without paying any gift tax or being required to file a gift tax return. You can also give up to that same amount every calendar year to as many people as you wish including each of your children, your friends, or complete strangers. $13,000 is the current annual exclusion amount. In other words, you can gift up to the current annual exclusion amount to any ...
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Many of us have heard of “probate” but don’t really know what it is. Often it seems to have attached to it some of the same connotations as a disease: Avoid it if possible. And it is sometimes possible to avoid probate by use of a trust…… but that’s a discussion for another time. Here’s what going to happen to your assets when your time comes. After you die assets that have a title (your home, any other real estate, your car, stocks, bonds, etc.) are still in your name. However, you’re no longer around to sign the documents ...
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Different jurisdictions use different terms for the taxes they levy when an individual dies so it isn't possible to make an absolute distinction between estate taxes and inheritance taxes. However, the tax that the federal government levies on larger estates is always called the "Federal Estate Tax". Beyond that, the most valid generalizations are as follows: - Estate taxes are taxes levied on the value of the assets that were owned by a deceased individual. They are usually paid out of the assets of the estate before the estate is distributed. A number of states levy estate taxes separate from and in addition to the federal estate tax. The federal estate tax, levied ...
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Q: What’s the difference between living trusts and living wills?
A: A "living trust" is an estate planning document that can be used to augment or replace a last will and testament. (See our blog topic: "What is a Revocable Living Trust?") A "living will" is very different. A living will is essentially a health care directive. In fact, more and more commonly living wills are called "advance health care directives". In the event that you become incompetent an advance health care directive tells your loved ones and medical professionals what your wishes are with respect to medical treatment or the desire not ...
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Trusts can be grouped in to the following categories: Living trusts - established while you are still alive Testamentary trusts – established by the terms of your will Living Trusts can be: Revocable – meaning that the trust creator can decide to revoke the trust, or a portion of the trust, and resume ownership of the assets Irrevocable – meaning that the trust creator has permanently given up ownership and most or all control of any assets placed in the trust See Revocable v Irrevocable Trusts below.
There are a variety of reasons to set up a trust. In some ...
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The Federal Estate Tax changed in the final weeks of 2010. Estate tax laws were modified by the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (“2010 Tax Relief Act”), which was signed into law on December 17, 2010. Some changes in the 2010 Tax Relief Act are retroactive to specifically affect decedents who died in 2010. No changes are retroactive going back beyond 2010. Here’s the current federal estate tax table: (TE = taxable estate = gross estate less exclusions: m = million) 2008-1st $2 m of TE excluded,balance @ 45% 2009-1st $3.5m of TE ...
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The IRS divides charities into two general groups: 50-percent charities and 30-percent charities. Generally churches, schools, hospitals, governmental units and certain qualifying foundations are considered 50-percent charities. Organizations that don’t qualify as 50-percent charities are considered to be 30-percent charities.
Gifts to qualifying charities are subject to different rules and depend upon the gross income of the donor, whether or not the donor is an individual or a corporation, the type of property donated and whether the donee/recipient is a 50-percent or a 30-percent charity.
If you as an individual want to donate cash to a 50-percent charity the total available deduction ...
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This post is taken from Google's report of the New York Times article by Paul Sullivan
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 provided by the Death and taxes, the adage goes, are the only certainties in life. But when it comes to the combination of the two, the estate tax, there is only uncertainty for 2010. Most tax advisers thought that Congress would extend the estate tax before it was due to expire at the end of last year. But while the House did act, the Senate did not. So what few predicted would happen did happen: the tax is gone for ...