Part II: Why? Framing the Issue. “Art is a nation’s most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves and to others the inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish.” ~Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Arts & Humanities […]
I previously wrote on how to disclaim property under federal law to avoid or minimize estate taxes. While estates may fall short of the federal estate tax exemption limit, currently set at $5 million, individuals may still need to disclaim property to avoid Minnesota estate tax. Many individuals think their estates also fall short of […]
May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965 Originally born as Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm X became a prominent human rights activist and gained numerous followers and enemies during the height of the civil rights movement. Malcolm X was assassinated while delivering a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City, just about […]
One of the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn is a decrease in the size of institutional endowments, just at the time when reliance on those funds may increase in order to offset a simultaneous reduction in other (e.g. contribution) income. Because stock market performance does not directly coincide with economic health, particularly in a […]
Make Sure Your Money Goes to the Right Person after You’re Gone There is so much information available about personal finances that you could spend your entire life reading all of it and you would never reach the end. Usually personal financial topics are geared toward what to do with your investments or how to […]
“The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.” ~William Faulkner, Author and Nobel Prize Laureate. Part I: The Big Picture. As an estate planning attorney, […]
August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992 Twenty-years ago, Alex Haley, the co-author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, passed away of a heart attack. The Autobiography of Malcolm X was written through a series of interviews that took place over a two year period before Malcolm X’s assassination.
Jamie Held explained that the benefit of disclaimer planning is to utilize “…both spouses’ estate tax exemption amounts in order to minimize or eliminate estate tax on a couple’s accumulated wealth.” As we have mentioned often, the current federal estate tax exemption limit is $5 million. However, this exemption limit is set only until the […]
What happens to your medical records when you die? Who has access to them? How long are they retained? Why are we asking these questions? When someone dies, medical records can be important for several reasons: 1) If the decedent owned a life insurance policy, the insurance company may need the records when processing the […]