In my first Epilawg installment, I wrote on the estate-planning needs of people with diminished capacity. This blog post will dive into the discussion that takes place at a first meeting with a client. People with diminished capacity will nearly always come to the meeting accompanied by a spouse, child, or loved one. This is […]
Life Insurance as an Estate Planning Tool
August 3, 2017
Life insurance is not something many people think of when it comes to estate planning. Let’s face it, it’s a boring product that people tend to think of when they are getting a mortgage! However, you may not realize that top professionals in estate planning work along with insurance pros to use life insurance as […]
Minnesota Changes Estate Tax Law
August 2, 2017
The Old Law Minnesota estate tax law recently changed in a way that will benefit the estates of wealthy and upper-middle class people. Until recently, Minnesota’s estate tax exemption was at $1.8 million, which means a Minnesota resident could die in 2017 and leave up to $1.8 million dollars tax free to non-spouses. As one […]
Diminished Capacity and Estate Planning
June 30, 2017
As anyone who has created an estate plan knows, in order to finalize the plan, you must sign documents. These documents may be wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care directives, deeds, or any other related form or document. In order to sign these documents, a person must have sufficient capacity, otherwise the documents may […]
Please: get the correct acknowledgement if you want to deduct that property contribution
June 30, 2016
“Close” counts with horseshoes and hand grenades. Unfortunately, it doesn’t count for entitlement to deduct a charitable contribution, once the amount claimed exceeds a trigger point. When that happens, the taxpayer’s own records – no matter how convincing – won’t suffice. There has to be an acknowledgement from the charity itself that follows the law […]
Prince Leaves a Complex, Unplanned Estate
May 4, 2016
Unfortunately, too many recent newsletters have focused on the death of musical legends. This month left us with another untimely death. Prince, whose legal name was Prince Rogers Nelson, died on April 21st at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota. As unbelievable as it may seem, according to his sister, Tyka […]
The Right Way to Inherit
December 20, 2015
While an inheritance is often considered a gift by the recipient, from a tax perspective, there optimal ways to inherit a retirement account. From the language used to designate the beneficiaries to important IRS-imposed deadlines, the manner in which a retirement account is inherited can significantly affect its value. If you are the beneficiary of […]
Year-End Estate Planning To-Do List
December 5, 2015
The end of the year is an ideal time to review your current estate plan and confirm that you are taking advantage of all planning opportunities available to you. This includes not only tax planning, but also asset protection, probate avoidance, beneficiary designations and changes in your family and financial situations. On the other hand, […]
Lamar, Khloe & the Urgency of Estate Planning
November 14, 2015
Former NBA and reality TV star, Lamar Odom, was found unconscious on October 13, 2015, and remains hospitalized in Los Angeles. Odom and his wife, Khloe Kardashian, had been separated for years and were in the middle of a divorce that had not been finalized, allowing his estranged wife to serve as his health care […]
Overcome Obstacles to Effective Healthcare Directives
July 21, 2015
Are improvements to healthcare directives necessary and possible? The answer is an emphatic YES! As a trusted advisor, you can blaze the trail for your clients. In the past three decades, a relatively low percent of adults have completed a healthcare directive. So what shortcomings are impeding the national acceptance of advance care planning? 10 […]
Questions To Ask Aging Parents
June 22, 2015
We are often approached by clients, who have aging parents, to find out the best way to raise the topic of estate planning with their parents. Typically the client is in the process of drafting his or her own estate plan and they realize quickly how messy the administration of an estate can be if […]