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Taxation & Estate Planning

The Ohio Trust & Estate Blog

Ohio law on Trusts, Estates and their legislation and litigation.
By Michael D. Bonasera, Esq.

Post Frequency: 0.5/day

Last Entry: December 18, 2012 at 14:46:48

Dead vs. Mostly Dead

Posted on February 01, 2009
It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. Miracle Max made this important distinction in The Princess Bride… Professor Beyer sparked this memory this morning when he asked if technically dead is dead enough...

Where Not To Die

Posted on February 01, 2009
couldn’t not steal that title from Forbes The above states (and the District of Columbia) are the remaining states that still impose their own estate tax. Eight states (shaded in orange) impose an inheritance tax, meaning the tax rate (in black) depends on who gets the money...

The Trustee’s Duty to Disclose

Posted on February 01, 2009
Professor Beyer this morning pointed to an article by this (jolly looking) associate at McGuire Woods LLP, called, Navigating the Trustee?s Duty to Disclose, Prob. & Prop., Jan./Feb. 2009, at 40. He intros his article thus: Parents are rightfully concerned about the possible negative effects of inherited wealth on the lives of their children...

Obama & The Estate Tax

Posted on January 12, 2009
I’ve touched on this before but the news is making the rounds yet again this morning: President Obama plans to retain the estate tax and is looking to fix the individual exemption at its current level of $3.5 million per person. There had been some talk during the campaign about perhaps making the exemption portable, but [...

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Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) Update

Posted on December 24, 2008
Yesterday I wrote about the very small amount of time left that you (as a beneficiary of a 401k) have to take your required minimum distributions… And then this morning President Bush signed HR 7327 “which delays required minimum distributions from certain retirement accounts for” 2009… So there you go! Mystery solved...

Washington Changes Its Mind & You Have 8 Days Left (in 2008) To Comply

Posted on December 23, 2008
According to these various & sundry stories, it looked like Washington was going to act to suspend the minimum distribution requirements for 401ks for 2008 and 2009. No idea what I’m talking about? Michael Keenan can help: RMD’s are a specific amount of money, based on your life expectancy and the balance in the account, that [...

Ohio man who tried to kill parents may get their $500,000 estate

Posted on December 22, 2008
Is it odd that I live in Ohio and I heard about this story from a guy who lives (and blogs) in Illinois? Anyways… This very friendly looking guy apparently tried to murder his adoptive parents when he was 17. First, he laced their tea with cyanide and Second (as if you needed a second), he shot [...

Wouldn’t This Be Nice

Posted on December 22, 2008
Joel Shoenmeyer writes here about the (relatively) new Illinois law (Public Act 95-0784) that allows an individual to name a beneficiary of a car thus allowing it to pass outside of probate… This would be great. There is only so much work one can do in Ohio to assitt clients with avoiding probate but there’s always [...

Not Trusts or Estates… But A Cure For HIV

Posted on November 09, 2008
From this story today on Slashdot comes the remarkable cure of a patient with HIV: “HIV is the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Until now, HIV has no cure and has led to the deaths of over 25 million people. However, a possible cure has appeared...

Washington State’s New Death With Dignity Act

Posted on November 07, 2008
This Tuesday Washington State became the second state (after Oregon) to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients. From the Elder Law Prof Blog: Initiative 1000 was leading in most counties across the state Tuesday...

VOTE NOW!

Posted on November 04, 2008
Just do it. And when you’re done you can come back and watch this funny little video. If you have already voted then you can watch it now. But, seriously, if you haven’t voted, you don’t get to watch it. Google is watching you right now, so I’ll know if you didn’t vote but you [...

Sarah Palin Fact Check: Obama Will Endanger Special Needs Trusts

Posted on October 31, 2008
The McCain/Palin ticket is really reaching now. In Pittsburgh on Friday, Oct. 24, Gov. Sarah Palin noted that parents of children with special needs often set up trusts to help ensure long-term assistance. “Many families with special needs children or dependent adults” are concerned that Sen...

Increasing the Gift Tax Annual Exclusion

Posted on October 16, 2008
The IRS has announced their annual inflation adjustments for 2009 which includes an increase in the annual gift exclusion. The annual gift tax exclusion for present interest gifts will be $13,000. Thanks to Greg Herman-Giddens of the North Carolina Estate Planning Blog for the heads up...

Estate Taxes: Obama vs McCain

Posted on October 15, 2008
From today’s WSJ and the Tax Prof Blog comes this comparison of the estate tax schemes under the two leading Presidential candidates: They agree on more than you might think: Raising the Individual Exemption: For 2008, the basic federal estate-tax exemption is $2 million per person, and the top estate-tax rate is 45%...

McCain Calls for Suspension of Minimum Distribution Rules

Posted on October 14, 2008
I would have thought this was a bigger deal than McCain would lead us to believe having buried its announcement a third of the way through his stump speech, but I am kind of a geek: [On October 10,] John McCain called for suspension of the requirement that retirees must begin liquidating their retirement accounts when they [...

FDIC Insurance & Trust Beneficiaries

Posted on October 13, 2008
The news regarding FDIC insurance limits and trust beneficiaries has been making the rounds this morning, both here and here… But I thought it needed a little more context. First, a little background: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency of the United States government that protects against the loss of insured deposits if an FDIC-insured bank or [...

Reverse Mortgages, Probate Liquidity and Medicaid Eligability

Posted on July 19, 2008
One of my favorite bloggers, Joel A. Schoenmeyer of the Death & Taxes Blog writes here about “the reverse mortgage probate problem and liquidity.” A reverse mortgage results from a home owner age 62 or older converting the equity in their home into tax-free income without having to sell the home, give up title, or [...

Not T&E, but, SHOCKING: Cutting Taxes = Less Money To Government

Posted on July 19, 2008
Forgive my sarcasm but I can’t abide our government’s woeful ignorance of history, especially economic history: From Paul L Caron of the TaxProf Blog comes a report by the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities on their finding that That Tax Cuts Lose Revenue: The claim that tax cuts ?pay for themselves? ? i...

A Piece of History From James Brown’s (messed up) Estate

Posted on July 19, 2008
I’ve written on Mr. Brown’s troubled estate before. Mark Jakubik brings us the most recent update with news of the recently approved auction of his personal property. A South Carolina judge on Monday cleared with the way for an auction of James Brown’s possessions to be held later this week, giving fans a chance to bid [...

Dr. Martin Luther King & Corretta Scott King Estate Litigation

Posted on July 11, 2008
From today’s CNN comes this distressing story… Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, two of Dr. Martin Luther King’s children are suing their brother, Dexter, the Executor of their father’s estate, accusing him of wrongfully taking money from both of their parents’ estates...

Not T&E Law: Blogger’s Guilt

Posted on July 04, 2008
Having happily emerged from my Catholic sarcophagus a mere 17 years ago, I found this subject intriguing. This post provides the verbose definition of Blogger’s Guilt: ?A fit of guilt, physical discomfort or dysphoria that occurs when one is too busy with an actual social or professional life to properly update one’s livejournal...

All About Me!

Posted on July 04, 2008
My new bio is up at the new firm. So far everyone has been great, from the IT staff to our new office manager. It feels like a good fit and, despite the few unavoidable hiccups, things are going very well so far.

CNN: Obama Likes $3.5 Million For Estate Tax Exemption

Posted on June 28, 2008
The last section in this story by CNN today: Obama favors maintaining the estate tax, which is scheduled to be repealed in 2010 for one year. But he would limit its reach.Obama would freeze the estate tax exemption amount at $3.5 million - up from its current $2 million level and the $1 million level it’s [...

Financing Your Life Insurance Premiums

Posted on June 26, 2008
This interesting idea comes to us today by Greg Herman-Giddens of The North Carolina Estate Planning Blog. Greg writes: Many of us could use more insurance for estate planning purposes, such as financial security for loved ones or payment of estate taxes...

Antipsychotics Increase Risk of Death in Dementia Patients, FDA Warns

Posted on June 21, 2008
FDA ALERT [6/16/2008]: FDA is notifying healthcare professionals that both conventional and atypical antipsychotics are associated with an increased risk of mortality in elderly patients treated for dementia-related psychosis. In April 2005, FDA notified healthcare professionals that patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death...

Northwestern to Offer 2-Year J.D. Program

Posted on June 21, 2008
This one was just everywhere. According to NU’s press release, “Northwestern University School of Law will offer an accelerated JD program starting in 2009[.]“ NU will be the first top tier law school to offer such an accelerated program...

Heath Ledger may have more than one child

Posted on April 04, 2008
I was afraid this was not going to go well. I was dismayed to hear about Mr. Ledger’s demise and its only getting worse. In a follow-up to my earlier post on Heath’s estate troubles, Professor Berry links to this article about one of his uncles speculating (and it sounds like he’s only [...

$10 Million? Nope, still not rich

Posted on April 04, 2008
So what does it take for a comfortable retirement? Well, according to Yahoo finance: Yes, it takes more than $10 million to be seen as rich these days. It takes more like $25 million. Not only is that the minimum for the red-carpet treatment at a growing number of banks, it is also, in the view of [...

New Link Added

Posted on April 03, 2008
J. Michael Young of Sanders, O?Hanlon, & Motley, PLLC in Sherman, Texas just started The Texas Probate Litigation Blog. And in the brief time since the site’s inception he already has an impressive list of posts including: Failure to disclose justified removal of independent executor...

Man Declared Dead Update

Posted on March 25, 2008
So after speaking with my wife (who is a good deal smarter than I am - and whose mom is a nurse) I learned that the “under the fingernail test” is the usual course in cases like this… who knew? Well, besides my wife and the entire medical community I mean Please [...

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