Estate Planning

What is your ultimate goal for your estate? We are equipped to help.

From our years of experience in Estate Planning, we know what the most important question is: “What does the client want to do with her/ his accumulated property?” It is our firm’s job to provide the answer.

Our primary concern is the protection of sufficient assets and cash flow, covering the needs and wants of the client. Secondarily, we want to reduce transfer taxes (including gift, estate, and generation-skipping taxes) as much as possible. Finally, we focus on transmitting to the specified later generations.
In the long-term best interest, we talk with the client about their principles as well as assets. For example, many of our clients have in place a long-standing program of giving: to their church, community, or charitable organizations. However, a vehicle may not be in place that continues that program after their death – not because they do not think it is important, but merely because they have not thought through this issue. With proper planning, it is possible to pass on to the following generations what we like to call the “gift of giving” without materially diminishing their inheritance.

You can see a fill-able form: download Estate Planning Questionnaire

Estate Planning

More important than the tax aspects of estate planning are the client’s personal wishes. Speaking from experience, it is best to help address:

• Who does the client want to receive the assets that will be in his / her estate?
• Is there a spouse who, due to differing levels of wealth as between them, the client wants to treat differently than (s)he would be treated under the prevailing statutes?
• Is there a partner the client treats as his / her spouse but who is not, legally, a spouse?
• Is this a second marriage, with assets and children that fall under the differing categories of “yours,” “mine,” and “ours”?
• Are there persons the client wants to be treated as children who are not legally their children?
• When, if ever, does the client want the assets to be turned over to the beneficiary?
• Are there beneficiaries who, for whatever reason, the client does not want ever to have control of the assets (due to being a spendthrift, to suffering from a drug or emotional dependency, or from some other incompetence)?
• Are there any beneficiaries who can better utilize Medicaid or other social security benefits if the assets can be kept out of their control?
• Who does the client want to manage the assets until they are turned over to the ultimate beneficiary?

Estate Tax Planning

• Personal Transfer Tax Planning (Gift, Estate, and Generation-Skipping): Effect the transfer of one’s estate during life and after death to minimize federal and state estate tax losses.
• Specific planning around the generation-skipping tax liabilities.
• Planning to preserve the family wealth with by long-term trusts, “dynasty trusts,” and planned giving vehicles such as split-interest charitable trusts.

Charitable Giving Planning

Have you taught your children the importance of giving? Have they ever seen you make a charitable contribution? Even in Church, do they see you put anything in the plate, or do you send in a check?
 The gift of giving must be shared. It is not inherent in our being but must be learned, over time. Consider an annual family meeting, where you collectively decide the causes to donate to and the gifts’ timing. Encourage your children to come to you regularly with suggestions for giving. Some will be appropriate for “emergency grants,” and some should warrant consideration at the annual meeting. The most important thing is to instill in your progeny the gift of giving. Most often what lacks in the development of an estate plan is passing this idea to the next generation. Most post-death disputes would be avoided if the parents had instilled in their children an understanding of the gift of giving.

• Are there specific charities that the client has supported during her / his lifetime that would be appropriate recipients of bequests in the client’s Will?
• Is it appropriate for the client to make a lifetime gift to a split-interest charitable trust, reserving the income for life, with the remainder to charity?
• In so doing, the client may benefit from an income-tax charitable deduction, even though the client’s estate is less than would be expected to benefit from an estate tax charitable deduction.
• The remainder after the lifetime income would go to a charity selected by the client, or could be set up so that his / her children could choose the charity.
• The lifetime income tax deduction could produce sufficient savings, allowing a lifetime gift to those who would have inherited if the gift wasn’t made.
• How about setting up a charitable "donor-advised fund"? Doing so, the donor gets the immediate tax deduction from a large charitable gift to a public charity. The donor can also select periodically specific charities. After the donor’s death, the donor’s children can continue as the donor-advisors.

Tax Preparation

• Estate Tax Returns, Gift Tax Returns, Generation-Skipping Tax Returns
• Preparation and electronic filing (if desired or required) of all federal forms, state forms, and specific forms for municipalities within those states that have such (New York, etc.)