Powers of Appointment

With estate tax exemptions remaining high – except in a few select states – estate tax planning is not a priority for many clients.  However, how property passes to one’s family remains a driving force behind client estate planning…

Estate planners often worry about minimizing or avoiding estate taxation at death, but gift taxation must be considered when making transfers during lifetime. Smaller gifts can avoid gift taxation due to the gift tax annual exclusion, which…

What are “powers of appointment?” What are the different types of powers of appointment? Why are these such powerful tools in estate and trust planning? How, when and why should the be used?

This webinar will examine the options available in all InterActive Legal practice systems to add powers of appointment and beneficiary withdrawal rights to trusts.

2009 will represent a watershed year for estate planners and their clients due to the increase in estate and generation-skipping tax exemptions to $3,500,000.

By their very nature, irrevocable trusts are generally considered to be irrevocable. They are irrevocable first and foremost because that is what the grantor wanted if  she or he is dead. (If she or he is alive, she or he probably would…

In the April 2005 Wealth Transfer Planning™ Newsletter, we discussed how the estate tax exemptions of spouses could be made transferable, in essence, by allowing the surviving spouse to use any unused estate tax exemption of the spouse…

Many married couples are aware that the Federal gift tax law permits gifts made by a husband or wife to a third party to be considered for tax purposes as made one-half by each spouse.  This so-called "gift-splitting" rule under Section…

Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, taxpayers are permitted a federal gift tax exemption and an estate tax exemption. Although technically not exemptions but more in the nature of exemption "equivalents" that entitle taxpayers to a…

Fiduciaries often face many tax options and elections during the administration of an estate or trust. The manner in which the fiduciary exercises, or does not exercise, tax elections and options will significantly affect one, some, or all…