January 2013

SkinnyGirl Gets Divorced

by Anne Bjerken January 29, 2013 Estate Planning 101

Bethenny Frankel is the real housewife turned mogul, who sold her SkinnyGirl drinks to Beam Global for $120 million.  In a matter of a few years, Bethenny went from near bankruptcy to multi-millionaire.  She also went from [...]

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Do I Still Need An Estate Plan?

by Jen Santini January 23, 2013 Estate Planning 101

Some people continue to ask why they need an estate plan, especially since Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act, which made the $5 million federal estate tax exemption permanent. The question is often, “If [...]

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Don’t Forget the Annual Gift-Tax Exclusion

by Jamie Held January 21, 2013 Taxes

Amid all the other fiscal cliff headlines and the American Taxpayer Relief Act provisions, you may have missed the annual gift-tax exclusion changes that automatically became effective January 1, 2013. The annual gift-tax exclusion increased [...]

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Audrey Hepburn

by Jen Santini January 20, 2013 Obits

May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993 Today is the 20th anniversary of Audrey Hepburn’s death. Audrey Hepburn was a beautiful, iconic Hollywood actress, who eventually left the movie star life and began doing humanitarian [...]

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The handy dandy super easy estate planning checklist

by Maggie Green January 17, 2013 Estate Planning 101

Make this your new year’s resolution.  Or don’t.  Either way, these six things should give you peace of mind that your family and friends will not struggle through the probate process. 1. Make a list of [...]

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Communicating End of Life Wishes

by Jayne Sykora January 15, 2013 Estate Planning 101

Last week, The New York Times ran a piece called “Help for Planning End of Life Care.” The blog post, by Paula Span, discusses a new website called Prepare, which is to help people prepare [...]

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Now That The Fiscal Cliff Was Avoided – How Does It Impact You?

by Chris Revak January 10, 2013 Estate Planning 101

The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 does the following: Tax Rates - For most individuals it extends the lower federal income tax rates that have existed for the last ten years.  However, if you make [...]

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1 or 2: Joint vs. Separate Revocable Trusts

by Jen Santini January 7, 2013 Trusts

We have written about the benefits of utilizing revocable trusts for incapacity planning, probate avoidance and out-of-state real estate. However, we often get the question from couples, “Why do we need two trusts? Why can’t [...]

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Downton Abbey: A History Lesson on Inheritance

by Jayne Sykora January 6, 2013 Estate Planning 101

A couple of us here at Epilawg are big fans of Downton Abbey and are very much looking forward to tonight’s premiere of Season 3 on PBS. Without giving a ton of plot points away [...]

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Sonny Bono

by Jen Santini January 5, 2013 Obits

February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998 It has been 15 years since Sonny Bono died in a ski crash on Heavenly Ski Resort in California. Mr. Bono died at 62 years old. Mr. Bono [...]

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Permanent Estate Tax Relief

by Jamie Held January 3, 2013 Estate Planning 101

Congress passed The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 on January 1, 2013.  Among its many provisions are the following pertaining to estate taxes:

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