Asset protection, as we like to point out from time to time on this blog, is an important aspect of estate planning. Those familiar with the term know that it refers to the process of ensuring that one’s wealth is maximally, or at least adequately, protected...
Estate Planning
Major pitfall of asset protection planning: fraudulent conveyance
For families with significant wealth, estate planning has to take a slightly different focus than for those with less wealth. One of the ways this is evident is the need for wealthy families to make risk management a prominent part of their estate planning efforts....
King estate sues MLK center to terminate license
The estate of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which is run by King's two sons, filed a complaint late last month in Atlanta, requesting that a judge prevent The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change from using his memorabilia, image and...
Estate planning focus, for many, now on income tax
With the ushering in of a new estate tax regime, the emphasis has been shifting for financial and estate planners and their clients. Whereas the focus for many used to be on strategies for avoiding estate tax, now that the exemption amount is permanently set at over...
IRS: Jackson estate $700 million deficient on estate tax return
Getting your numbers right on an estate tax return is an important thing to do. That makes sense of course. If you fail to report an estate’s assets accurately, the IRS will probably notice and come around asking about it. That is what is happening now with the...
States, companies, attorneys work on dealing with digital assets
Digital assets are kind of the new topic in estate planning that everyone is talking about. There is good reason for this, of course, given that most of us have some form of online ownership. For some of us, there is a good deal of money tied up in online assets,...
Amanda Bynes’ parents seek conservatorship
Those who follow celebrity gossip have heard about the recent events in the life of Amanda Bynes, including her arrests and increasingly strange behavior. Most recently, Bynes was reported to have poured gasoline on her pet Pomeranian and set her pants on fire in an...
Updating trusts another example of how estate planning is a process
One of the benefits of a living trust for estate planning is that you can revoke it—meaning, of course, you can change the terms of the trust. For those who are not experienced or otherwise knowledgeable, though, the question might arise: how does one do...
Soprano’s actor missed estate planning opportunities
Celebrity estate planning is an interesting thing to look at. Some stars are well-prepared for their death, and in their case years of planning pays off. In other cases, stars seem to have little understanding or concern about what happens to their wealth when they...
Check your beneficiary designations as part of your estate planning
Earlier this month, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling demonstrated the importance of including beneficiary designations as a vital part of estate planning. The case involved a dispute between a current and former spouse over the proceeds of a deceased federal...