It's been quite awhile since we devoted a post to business succession planning. As we noted in our April 2 post, families that own and operate small businesses can find themselves in conflict when it is time to transfer ownership interests in the business. As we noted...
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Trusts and tax avoidance on asset appreciation
The end of the year is always a good time to think about the future. And this certainly includes estate planning and tax considerations. In today's post, let's look at one example of how intelligent tax planning can result in significant savings when transferring...
Giving beneficiaries a voice in estate planning decisions
It's been a few months since we last addressed how disability issues can affect estate planning decisions. In our July 31 post, we wrote about how special needs trusts can be one way to provide for people with disabilities. As we noted in that post, it is also...
Comparative perspective: considerable U.S. wealth to transfer
Wealth is a relative term. For much of human history, most people have lived and died without large nest eggs to pass along to surviving spouses, their children or other heirs. Indeed, for millions and millions of people, life itself has been a matter of daily...
Heirs and mortgage assumption, part 2: modification guidelines
In the first part of this post, we explained why federal regulators have issued rules to help surviving spouses and other heirs who wish to assume a mortgage after the mortgage holder dies. As we discussed last week, mortgage servicers have often failed to make a good...
