Category: Beneficiary
“The stretch IRA is dead and everyone (including me) is writing about how this is the apocalypse for IRA planning. Well, it isn’t. Let’s all take a deep breath.” Yes, the SECURE Act has eliminated the use of the stretch IRA, which is the ability to pass an IRA down to a child or grandchild […]
“The worldwide worry over coronavirus creates a glimmer of good news for at least one segment of the U.S. population: the top 0.1 percent.” A down market gives super-wealthy people the ability to use sophisticated strategies to help pass along billions of dollars to heirs, tax free, reports Accounting Today in the article “Heirs of […]
Why You Should Not Name a Trust as an IRA Beneficiary? “For obvious reasons, including control, privacy, asset protection, etc., many clients are interested in putting assets into a trust. For many retirees, their IRA is among their biggest assets. It’s only natural to want to put the IRA into a trust.” An IRA may […]
“One Justice from the Florida Supreme Court commented that the expensive litigation far outweighed any savings resulting from the pre-printed form.” Here’s a real world example of why what seems like a good idea backfires, as reported in The National Law Review’s article “Unintended Consequences of a Do-It-Yourself Estate Plan“. Mrs. Ann Aldrich wrote her […]
“The elimination of the Stretch IRA is a game changer, especially for parents who were considering bequeathing savings in IRAs to their children.” The majority of many people’s wealth is in their IRAs, saved from a lifetime of work. Their goal is to leave their IRAs to their children, says a recent article from Think […]
“In other words, family members who are not named to inherit anything in the will may still see the list of all of the assets. If you don’t want that result, you can avoid it by establishing a trust.” Privacy is just one of the benefits of having a trust created as part of an […]
Estate Planning for Non-Married Couples: Attorney Services in New York “The number of unmarried couples who live together reached 18 million in 2016, a 29% jump from 14 million in 2007. Among adults age 50 and older, the increase was 75%: About four million were cohabiting in 2016, up from 2.3 million in 2007.” For […]
“Chances are you have one or more charitable causes that you support on an annual basis. It is also likely that you have failed to make any provision for charity whatsoever on your death.” Americans are a generous people, giving of our time and resources, through donations and volunteering. However, according to the article “Charitable […]
“Estate planning sounds like you need to be of nobility and own country estates before it applies to you. However, estate planning only means that you are making a plan for when you pass away or are no longer able to make good decisions for yourself.” If you switch the term “estate” for “stuff,” maybe […]
“Three handwritten documents, dated between 2010 and 2014, were found in Aretha Franklin’s Michigan home in recent months, including one in a spiral notebook found under her couch cushions.” The Queen of Soul’s lack of a properly executed estate plan, isn’t the first time a celebrity died without a will, and it surely will not […]
