Dan T Hastings Esq 9 posts 0 comments

As the Federal and state governments impose much more onerous estate and inheritance tax laws, such as Chapter 14 of the Internal Revenue Code, it becomes more difficult, expensive and complex for property owners to arrange for the transfer…

Most estate planning involves decisions which may have significant financial consequences: e.g., the disposition of assets, the apportionment of taxes and the selection of the person or corporate entity who will manage the assets after the…

At the very end of August. the Internal Revenue Service promulgated its long awaited notice about I.R.C. § 2036(c), the so-called estate tax "freeze” provision. Notice 89-99, I.R.B. 1989-39, 4. This article will provide some background…

On November 10, 1988, President Reagan signed the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988 ("TAMRA"), P.L. 100-647, into law. The Act makes amendments to the Tax Reform Act of 1984, the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the Revenue Act of…

The charitable remainder trust, itself a by-product of tax reform, is one of the few estate planning devices left untouched by the tax reform bills of recent years. While practitioners, particularly those who do not dwell full-time in the…

This article will discuss the different definitions of domicile and those circumstances in which the determination of domicile will be of special significance in estate planning. It will also set forth some of the problems that can arise…

Approximately 30% of the assets passing upon property owners' deaths represent proceeds of life insurance. Life insurance has been and, no doubt, will continue to be of major importance in estate planning.

A Will (or a Will substitute, such as a revocable trust) can do many things. It may provide instructions for burial or disposition of remains; name executors, trustees and guardians; impose, expand or restrict the duties and powers of the…

How a Will should be structured depends, in part, on the role it plays in the estate plan. If virtually all of a testator's wealth is jointly-held with rights of survivorship or passes by contract or similar arrangement (such as to a named…