Articles Posted in Trusts

One of the most common mistakes in estate planning is failing to pay attention to beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, IRAs and 401(k) plans. You may not accurately recall who you named as beneficiary or previous designations may be no longer reflect your wishes due to changed family circumstances. Have you taken your ex-spouse…

The recent history of estate tax legislation demonstrates that the issue has become captive to political interests. There is no reason to expect an end to this situation. In this state of uncertainty, attention must be directed to techniques that ensure successful estate planning whether the estate tax exemption is $3.5 MM, $11.58 MM, or…

While it’s heart wrenching to think about not being there to raise your children, imagine a court choosing their guardian without input from you. That’s why it’s important to nominate a guardian in your will while it’s still up to you. What is a guardian? This is the person who will be raising your children.…

A trust is not taxed on income distributed in the year earned. Rather, the beneficiary who receives the income is liable for the tax. If the income is accumulated, the trust is taxed on the income. In addition, the beneficiary generally must pay tax on the income when it is distributed. The beneficiary does receive…

A trust arrangement popular among well-to-do families concerned not only with their children’s financial security, but with the children’s behavior, is the so-called “incentive trust.” In general, the right of a trust beneficiary to receive certain financial benefits from the trust is expressly conditioned upon the beneficiary’s performing or achieving a defined objective, or refraining…

The Surrogate’s Court is the court in New York where all matters relating to Wills and Trusts are determined. The Surrogate is the title of the judge in this particular court, and each county in New York has at least one Surrogate (New York County, covering Manhattan, has two). The Surrogate’s Court handles, among other…

Although the charitable remainder trust offers considerable potential tax advantages that can reduce the effective cost of charitable giving, the fact remains that a portion of the donor’s wealth will be going to charity and not to the donor’s heirs. This represents an obviously significant dilemma for a charitably inclined individual making estate planning decisions.…

The primary purpose of using an irrevocable life insurance trust is to exclude the life insurance policy proceeds from estate taxation in the estate of the insured and the insured’s spouse. This can be accomplished even though the surviving spouse derives certain benefits from the trust while living. (The trust must be irrevocable, since property…

One of the basic purposes of trusts is protection. It may be the protection of a spouse, child, parent or dependent that is desired. It may be the protection of a beneficiary against his or her own possible errors of judgment in the management of trust property. Trusts are also used as a device to…

Mr. Rice formed a trust for the benefit of his children in his home state, New York, and appointed a New York resident as the trustee. Under the terms of the trust the trustee has “absolute discretion” to distribute the trust’s assets to the beneficiaries. In 1997, Rice’s daughter, Kaestner, moved to North Carolina. North…