Estate planning and asset protection go hand-in-hand. After all, no matter how well your estate plan is designed, it won’t do much good if you have no wealth to share with your family. If…
Unlike married couples, who can take advantage of the marital deduction, unmarried partners can’t transfer unlimited amounts to each other tax-free. To reduce their estate tax bills, they must take some additional steps. One…
Valuable works of art may be ideal candidates for lifetime charitable donations. Generally, it’s advantageous to donate appreciated property because, in addition to reducing your taxable estate and garnering an income tax deduction, you…
If your adult children face the prospect of high taxes on their estates, consider skipping a generation with some of your bequests and gifts. But beware of the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax, which applies…
With the gift and estate tax exemption currently at $5.43 million, you might think that estate valuations are less important. But even if you believe that your estate’s value is under the exemption amount,…
If you own an insurance policy on your life and want to keep the policy’s proceeds out of your taxable estate, one option is selling the policy to an irrevocable grantor trust. This is…
If selling or gifting an interest in family-owned businesses or entities is part of your long-term estate/tax plan, the window may be closing on the use of valuation discounts as part of that strategy….
Owning assets jointly with one or more of your children or other heirs is a common estate planning “shortcut.” Two potential advantages are convenience and probate avoidance. But joint ownership can also create a…
To benefit a charity while helping ensure your own financial future, consider a charitable remainder trust (CRT): For a given term, the CRT pays an amount to you annually (some of which generally is…
