Res Publicae - The New York Estates Blog: Taxation & Estate Planning

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Taxation & Estate Planning

Res Publicae - The New York Estates Blog

Covers areas of interest to estate-planning professionals and nonprofessionals, including articles, discussions of case law and statutes, and answers to frequently asked questions.
By Christopher L. Miller

Post Frequency: 5.6/day

Last Entry: July 20, 2010 at 23:42:29

Greenville Estate Attorney: ?Estate Tax Proposal from Senators John Kyl and Blanche Lincoln?

Posted on July 20, 2010
A recent development on the federal estate tax. Senators Kyl and Lincoln are still working together to enact legislation fixing the current estate tax regime. Under their proposal, the estate tax will return in 2011 with an exemption of up to five million dollars per person, ten million dollars per couple, to be indexed for inflation...

Greenville Estate Attorney: ?George Steinbrenner?s Final Showdown??

Posted on July 14, 2010
First off, this Yankees fan would like to say thank you to George Steinbrenner for his successful stewardship of the New York Yankees over the past several decades. RIP The Boss. As a friend of mine said, somewhere in heaven Thurman Munson, Billy Martin, and George Steinbrenner must be having their long-awaited sitdown...

Greenville Estate Attorney: ?A Celebrity Dies??.An Estate Contest is Born?

Posted on July 09, 2010
The death of another celebrity has apparently led to more estate litigation and bickering about who is entitled to the assets left behind. Gary Coleman died on May 28, 2010. The reporting is raising some interesting issues for probate lawyers. The bare bone facts, as reported by various news outlets, appear to be as follows: 1...

Fourth of July

Posted on July 04, 2010
Happy Independence Day everyone! Be safe.

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Greenville Estate Lawyer: ?Estate Tax Redux?

Posted on June 06, 2010
Well, we are almost through one half of the year 2010, and there is not much news to report on what will happen to the federal estate tax. As you may know, pursuant to the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), there is no federal estate tax in 2010...

Medicaid Planning

Posted on May 09, 2010
The site has been undergoing much renovation over the past several months in anticipation of the launch of a new website and blog theme. Much of my time has been spent in designing and coding the new site, but I think it will be worth the work. This is why my posting has been less active [...

Greenville Estate Lawyer: ?Estate planning is a process, not an event.?

Posted on April 03, 2010
Lives change. Personal relationships change. Assets change. And certainly laws change. Why then is your current estate plan fifteen years old, or even five years old? To borrow a common quote about education and learning, estate planning is by its nature a process, not an event...

Greenville Estate Attorney: ?You cannot disinherit your spouse, sort of.?

Posted on March 10, 2010
What do you do if you find yourself a widow(er) and come to find out that your spouse did not mention you in his/her Last Will? To answer the question, you need to first determine whether the Will was executed before your date of marriage or after. If it was executed before your marriage, you are termed an omitted spouse, and pursuant [...

Greenville Estate Lawyer: ?S.C. Supreme Court Issues Decision on Jury Trials?

Posted on March 08, 2010
In Verenes v. Alvanos, (Op. No. 26780, S.C. Supreme Court, filed March 1, 2010), the South Carolina Supreme Court took up the right to jury trial in Probate Court. The case involved claims made against a trustee for breach of fiduciary duty of care, breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty, and for an accounting...

Greeville Estate Attorney: ?What?s estate planning??

Posted on February 21, 2010
While out on the town with some friends the other night, somebody asked me what estate planning was for. I thought about the question for a moment, quickly racing through what my answer should be, and realized that there are many different ways to answer that question, because the goals to be accomplished by estate [...

Greenville Estate Attorney: ?The Estate Tax Exemption to Become Portable??

Posted on January 27, 2010
Lately I have found myself fascinated by the recent repeal of the federal estate tax and all of its consequences, intended or otherwise. Equally fascinating are the proposals that have been made by members of Congress to reinstate the estate tax. One such proposal is to ressurect the estate tax for 2010 at 2009 levels, and to make the federal [...

Greenville Estate Lawyer: ?Court of Appeals Decides Constructive Trust Appeal?

Posted on January 22, 2010
In McDaniel v. Kendrick, Op. No. 4643 (S.C. Ct. App. filed December 31, 2009), the South Carolina Court of Appeals decided a real estate dispute with a tangential relationship to estate planning. Oftentimes, a mom or dad will decide as part of their estate planning to transfer a home to a child as a gift, with the expectation that [...

Congratulations to the Senator-Elect from Massachusetts

Posted on January 20, 2010
Congratulations to Scott Brown, Esq., the new Senator-Elect for the State of Massachusetts. By all accounts, Mr. Brown is a nice hard-working family lawyer turned politician who has an ability to connect with voters, and was willing to do the work in the trenches during the campaign to win the election...

Greenville Estate Lawyer: ?Beware the joint tenancy?

Posted on January 19, 2010
First installment of Do-it-Yourself estate planning disasters. Client X has three children named High, Dry, and Helpful, and no surviving spouse. Helpful is so named because she is so very helpful in caring for mom. So helpful in fact, that Helpful moved in with mother a few years before mom’s death to take care of her, oh, and she

Greenville Estate Attorney- ?Let?s Discuss DIY Disasters?

Posted on January 18, 2010
Here’s a new blog category. I am going to attempt to collect examples of Do-It-Yourself estate plans that have led to disastrous results. I think that the internet age has led to a boom for do-it-yourselfers in many fields, and this of course includes estate planning...

Greenville Estate Lawyer: ?For A New Year - Have Your Estate Plan Checked?

Posted on January 18, 2010
If you have read any of my previous posts, surely you know that there is no federal estate tax in the year 2010. Unsurprisingly, this change in the law can have severe repercussions for your estate plan. Some estate planners are sounding the alarm with regard to estate plans based on credit shelter family trusts and marital deduction trusts...

Greenville Estate Lawyer: ??Tis the Season?

Posted on January 16, 2010
The 2009 tax season is fast approaching! It’s the year 2010. No federal estate tax! No generation skipping transfer tax! We think. Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll see. One thing that is certain is that there is a federal income tax this year. In honor of tax season, I have created a new blog category, where I will [...

Estate Tax Repeal-Unintended Consequences?

Posted on December 29, 2009
In a prior post, I discussed the idea of stepped up tax basis, wherein upon death the tax basis of a person’s assets is set equal to the fair market value of the assets as of the date of death. Thus, if the asset is then sold after death for that same fair market value, there is [...

Estate Tax Red Herring #2

Posted on December 22, 2009
The next anti-estate tax argument that you may hear is that the estate tax taxes assets that have been taxed already. While this may be true in some instances, it is false when appreciated assets are considered. To understand this requires attention to the interplay between income taxes and estate taxes...

No Movement By Senate on Estate Tax

Posted on December 19, 2009
The U.S. Senate has failed to make any move on estate tax legislation reinstating the federal estate tax for the year 2010. It is not expected to do so before the end of this year. The sticking point seems to be that Republicans want a 5M dollar exemption and a thirty five percent highest tax [...

Estate Tax Red Herring #1

Posted on December 18, 2009
This will be an easy one. The argument is rather simple and attempts to pull at your heart strings. “It is immoral to tax people when they die.” Why is it any more immoral to tax people on assets they own when they die than it is to tax people on their weekly pay checks? Are not taxes [...

Faulty Estate Plan Scenario Number One

Posted on December 07, 2009
“Why can’t I just take a copy of the Revocable Trust to the bank and have them give me the money in the account”, asks your client. “The trust says that I am the beneficiary.” My answer to this is always

House Votes on Estate Tax Extension

Posted on December 03, 2009
Well, my prediction of last night may prove incorrect. The House voted today to extend the current federal estate tax law. This would continue the current $3,500,000.00 exemption and keep the top rate at 45 %. It will also keep the estate tax in effect for the year 2010...

Federal Estate Tax Changes On The Way?

Posted on December 02, 2009
Alas, after many months of health care debate (if we can really call it that) in the U.S. Congress seemingly drowning out all other issues, come signs of life on the federal estate tax front. The House of Representatives is considering an extension of the current estate tax law...

Definition - Inter vivos versus testamentary trusts

Posted on November 10, 2009
The terms above refer to two major categories of trusts. An inter vivos trust is a trust that was created during the lifetime of the Trust Grantor/Settlor. A testamentary trust is set up upon the death of the Trust Grantor/Settlor, typically in a Last Will...

Honorary Trusts for the Care of Animals

Posted on October 15, 2009
South Carolina is one of about 38 states plus the District of Columbia that allow for trusts to be established for the benefit of animals and pets. While such trusts had not been recognized under the state common law because there were no human beneficiaries to enforce their terms, the South Carolina Trust Code now makes such trusts valid.

Why Should I Have a Revocable Lifetime Trust?

Posted on September 30, 2009
You may have heard various reasons why somebody should have their assets in a Revocable Lifetime Trust. (”Revocable Trust”). Some reasons may be valid, others less so. Here is a discussion of some of these reasons, and the implications of each...

Why Do I Need A Last Will and Testament?

Posted on September 15, 2009
You need a Last Will for many reasons. Even if you do not have a Last Will, you have an estate plan. That plan is laid out by New York’s intestacy statute, which provides the order in which your relatives will inherit your estate if you die without a will...

Health Care Powers of Attorney & Living Wills

Posted on August 20, 2009
A health care power of attorney designates an agent to make decisions regarding health care when a person cannot make those decisions due to incompetence or unconsciousness. In South Carolina, only one person can serve as your health care agent at one time...

What are Heirs? Why are they important?

Posted on August 11, 2009
If you interact with an estate attorney, you may hear the term “heirs.” You may think you know what this term means, but it actually has a precise legal definition. In South Carolina, the term heirs is defined in South Carolina Code of Laws 62-1-201(17)...

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