by Arthur Geffen | Mar 8, 2011 | Estate Lawyer, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Solutions
Would you like to leave money to descendants as distant from you as you are from the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock? It’s possible, if you set up a “Dynasty Trust.” The Obama administration, however, proposed restrictions on such trusts in its recently...
by Arthur Geffen | Mar 3, 2011 | Estate Lawyer, Estate Planning, Wills
An executor administers an estate and remains in charge until it is legally closed. Before that happens, the will must be admitted to probate — the system through which a court determines if it is a legally valid document. After that, creditors and taxes, if...
by Arthur Geffen | Mar 2, 2011 | Estate Attorney, Estate Planning
“Tax season is an important time for families to think about saving for college,” said Nancy Farmer, president of Tuition Plan Consortium, a national group of private colleges and universities that sponsors the Private College 529 Plan Paying for college? Pay...
by Arthur Geffen | Feb 17, 2011 | Estate Planning
KNOW WHAT COUNTS AS BEING IN YOUR ESTATE The value of your estate for estate tax purposes includes all the following assets (minus liabilities): proceeds from life insurance policies; your primary residence and any vacation and/or rental properties; retirement...
by Arthur Geffen | Feb 10, 2011 | Estate Planning, Living Trust
Passing assets outside of probate keeps them private, avoids will contests — for instance, when blood relatives are hostile toward a domestic partner or new spouse — and simplifies planning for elderly people with just one child they wish to benefit. A living...
by Arthur Geffen | Feb 10, 2011 | Estate Planning
Private placement life insurance is an investment wrapped inside an insurance policy. The Internal Revenue Code treats the taxation of insurance differently from that of investments, like stocks or hedge funds, and does not levy federal income tax or the 15...
