The Internal Revenue Service recently published various inflation based adjustments. Among the two dozen tax provisions affected was the Annual Gift Exclusion amount. The amount you can gift to someone has increased from $13,000 in 2012 to $14,000 in 2014. What is the Annual Gift Exclusion Amount? In the United States a person with interests/assets… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Estate Planning
Important People You Need to Name When Estate Planning
Most people think about the flow of their assets when they think “estate planning” and while gifting, trusts, and taxes are obviously important I have found that there is something that takes precedence for most younger families and that is the naming of your Executor, Trustee and Guardian. Naming an Executor Black’s Law Dictionary defines… Continue Reading
You Can Now Get Sued for Interfering with an Expected Inheritance in California
As always nothing provided in this BRIEF post should be considered legal advice. I am not sure how this flew under my radar for so long but according to Wealth Management there is a new tort on the books in California. The tort is Interfering with an Expected Inheritance. For those that are not familiar with… Continue Reading
I Can’t Believe I have Been Blogging for 4 Years
On August 5th of 2008 I put up my first post. I had no idea if anyone would read about my journey, nevertheless care about what was going on in my life, but I wanted to share my thoughts with whoever wanted to read them. Since putting that first post up I have seen somewhere… Continue Reading
An Estate Distribution Schedule That I Just Don’t Understand
Today, I was reminded of an Estate Distribution schedule not often found in Last Will and Testaments or Revocable Trusts, but enough to make me question why it would ever be included. Part of my daily activities at my office is reviewing clients’ and potential clients’ estate planning documents. Sometimes this includes just a 2… Continue Reading
What is a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust and What Does it Have to do With Facebook?
I am a little late to the story, but I was shocked to learn that a few of the Facebook founders used an estate planning technique known as a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) to help their future heirs save on estate taxes. It is very long term planning considering those mentioned in the article… Continue Reading
