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End-of-life Wishes Gain Prominence in Public Policy Debates

Yahoo News:  “Lillian Landry always said she wasn’t afraid to die.  So when death came last week, the 99-year-old was lying peacefully in a hospice with no needles or tubes.  Her final days saw her closest friend at her side and included occasional shots of her favorite whiskey, Canadian Mist.  Landry is an [...]

Farrah Fawcett’s Trust Provides a Good Lesson

The Probate Lawyer Blog:  “It’s been widely reported across various websites in the last couple days that Farrah Fawcett’s will has been revealed and it “shockingly” disinherited her longtime ex-boyfriend Ryan O’Neal (father to her son, Redmond). These reports are wrong on several levels.  Fawcett family.  First, the document was her Trust, [...]

Succession Planning: Tricky Business of Giving It Away

Financial Times:  “Wealthy families are spending more time educating their children in financial matters after an explosion of wealth among entrepreneurs means there is more money to be passed to the next generation.   The past decade has seen an enormous amount of wealth created around the world.  While some of it has been [...]

The IRS Loves Retirement Accounts

North Carolina Estate Planning Blog:  “Planning for tax-qualified plans, which includes IRAs, 401(k)s and qualified retirement plans, requires a careful examination of the potential taxes that impact these assets. Unlike most other assets that receive a ‘basis step up’ to current fair market value upon the owner’s death, IRAs, 401(k)s and other qualified retirement plans [...]

House Democrats To Ditch Permanent Estate Tax Bill For 1-Year Fix

Nasdaq:  “House Democrats are retreating from a plan to move permanent estate tax legislation by the end of the year, spooked by high unemployment and budget deficits.  Members of the House Ways and Means Committee said that instead they hope to move legislation that extends current estate tax levels for one year. They could then revisit a permanent fix [...]

Farrah Fawcett’s Trust Left Nothing to Ryan O’Neal

Farrah Fawcett’s 2007 Trust provides that her estate is to be disposed of as follows:

$4,500,000 in trust for life to her son Redmond O’Neal.  At his death, any remaining funds go to the Farrah Fawcett Foundation
$100,000 to Gregory Lott
$500,000 to her nephew Gregory Walls
$500,000 to her father James Fawcett
the balance to the Farrah Fawcett Foundation

The [...]

Madoff Friend Picower Leaves $200 Million to Wife

Reuters:  “Jeffry Picower, the billionaire beneficiary of Bernard Madoff’s fraud scheme who died last month in Florida, left $200 million to his wife and appointed her chairwoman of a charitable foundation to be funded with assets from his estate.  The $200 million for Picower’s wife, Barbara . . . . The Picowers were [...]

US Senate Centrists Ponder Gradual Estate Tax Reduction

Nasdaq:  “A bipartisan group of senators who favor lowering estate taxes are studying a proposal to gradually reduce the tax until it reaches 35% in 2019.   The senators, led by Sens. Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.), and Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.) , have long sought to cut the tax from its current level of 45%, and [...]

What Happens to Your Email When You Die?

news.com.au:  “In a digital world your deepest secrets no longer die with you.  Andrew Ramadge reports on what happens to your private emails when you pass away.”

Digital Assets of Deceased Raises Questions for Heirs

Pittsburgh Post Gazette:  “After an American soldier died in Iraq five years ago, his father wanted to save copies of his son’s e-mails sent through a Yahoo! account.  But the Internet company’s privacy policy allowed access by only the soldier, triggering a legal fight.   The case highlights a growing discussion concerning what happens [...]

The Wall Street Journal Totally Blows it on Online Wills

South Florida Estate Planning Law:  “I have long admired the Wall Street Journal and considered them a paragon of straightforward and relatively high level journalism.  . . . Not anymore.  Today, the Wall Street Journal has led their readers horribly astray in such a manner that may cause untold pain and suffering [...]

Michael Jackson’s $1 Million Burial, including $35,000 for Burial Outfit

Los Angeles Times:  “Michael Jackson’s funeral at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale cost more than $1 million, including $35,000 for the pop star’s burial garments, according to court documents unsealed” November 10, 2009.

Life Insurance – an Estate Tax Time Bomb

North Carolina Estate Planning Blog:  “One common oversight I see when reviewing new clients’ financial status is failure to consider the estate tax impact of large life insurance policies. Most people know that life insurance proceeds are received free from income tax.  What most don’t know, however, is that the proceeds are part of [...]

What’s Wrong With Charitable Giving—and How to Fix It

Wall St. Journal:  “It’s hard to overstate the crisis facing charitable giving today.  So let me just say it as plainly as I can: Much of current philanthropic giving, by foundations and individuals, neither meets the needs of our charitable organizations nor addresses some of our most urgent public needs.  Foundation practices today [...]

Peter Seller’s Estate Inherited by a Person He Never Knew

Times Online:  “Peter Sellers had reached a final divorce settlement with his fourth wife that would have deprived her of any claim on his estate — but he died before the document became binding, according to legal papers that have come to light. . . . [The wife] died an alcoholic in 1994 [...]

Don’t Make the Same Mistakes You’ve Seen in the Headlines

Jensen Law Office:  “Now is the time to update your existing estate plan, or proceed with implementing a comprehensive estate plan.  Why?  First, we now know with certainty that the federal estate tax is not going away, and thus we should establish a plan that avoids or at least minimize this voluntary tax. [...]

Make End-of-Life Decisions with Peace of Mind

USA Today:  “Every day, says hospital ethicist Dawn Seery, someone tells her: ‘I don’t know what to do.  I’m afraid everyone will be angry.’  When it comes to discussing end-of-life decisions, most people are unprepared, confused and frightened. Most of all, Seery says, ‘they want to know how they can recognize and decide [...]

Seven Reasons Why Congress Should Repeal, Not Fix, the Death Tax

The Heritage Foundation:  “The House and Senate may soon begin debate on what to do with the federal estate tax.  If Congress fails to act before January 1, 2010, current law calls for death taxes to disappear entirely for one year before returning in 2011 at a top rate of 55 percent and [...]

Managing Your Business and Estate

24-7 Press Release:  “Many business owners are so consumed with daily operations that they don’t think about estate planning. Estate planning for business owners can be significantly different than for people who don’t own a business. Business owners often fail to plan properly. This can lead to conflicts among family members, higher estate [...]

Get Your Estate Plan in Gear

MorningStar:  “When Ginnie and Alan wrote me in early 2009, they were feeling nervous about their portfolio’s ability to last through what they hoped would be a long and fruitful retirement. But this couple wasn’t thinking only about themselves. As parents of a daughter with special needs, they were seeking guidance on what [...]

Elder Care Victimization: When Trusted Individuals Become Trust Violators

Probate Lawyer Blog:  “Annual financial loss by victims of elder financial abuse is estimated to be at least $2.6 billion dollars according to a recent combined study from MetLife Mature Market Institute (MMI), The National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (NCPEA), The Center for Gerontology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State [...]

Increasing Payment Charitable Lead Annuity Trust

Nonprofit Law Blog:  “A charitable lead annuity trust (CLAT) is an irrevocable split-interest trust in which the income interest is to be paid over to one or more charitable organizations, in the form of an annuity, and the remainder interest is to be paid over to one or more noncharitable beneficiaries. Typically, CLATs [...]

What Estate Tax Reform?

Trusts & Estates:  “Don’t bet on any.  Congress just might do nothing and send us back to the 2001 scenario—permanently. . . . The landscape in which all wealth advisors manage trusts and create estate plans is about to be altered dramatically.  But those changes may not be the ones everybody is expecting. [...]

Estate Tax Extension Seen By Year-End, But Not Permanent Fix

National Underwriter:  “Association for Advanced Life Underwriting officials believe that before Congress recesses it will extend the 2009 estate tax levels for another year, but won’t deal with permanent reform until next year.  Tom Korb, AALU vice president of policy and public affairs, made his cautionary comment in the wake of statements by [...]

Make Sure Your Digital Life Rests in Peace

Arizona Republic:  “Estate planning was tough enough even before the age of online financial accounts and social media.  Now that so many things have gone digital, there are even more issues to ponder. . . . ‘The ultimate question is what happens to these digital assets when somebody dies.’  Chances are a lot [...]

Top Money-Making Dead Celebrities

Fobres.com:  “The money might be drying up in Hollywood, but there’s still plenty of cash being made in the graveyard.  The 13 iconic figures on Forbes’ list of the Top-Earning Dead Celebrities grossed a collective $886 million in the past 12 months.”

23 Things Beginners Absolutely Must Know About Saving for Retirement

Money Under 30’s article entitled “23 Things Beginners Absolutely Must Know About Saving for Retirement” has lessons for investors of all ages.

“Whether you’re just starting your first ‘real job’ or have been in the workplace for a few years but haven’t gotten around to saving for retirement yet, listen up: it’s [...]

The Estate Tax is Likely to Return

North Jersey.com:  “With all the hoopla coming out of Washington regarding the health care overhaul, not much attention is given to the fact that a hefty tax is scheduled to take a siesta in 2010.  George W. Bush and the Republican Congress in 2001 tried to kill the estate tax, which they liked [...]

Estate Planning: What Same-Sex Couples Need to Know

Edge.com:  “Same-sex couples face many financial planning issues that married couples do not. However, like married couples, we have similar financial planning objectives, such as:

Making certain assets reach our designated heirs in the manner we choose.
Eliminating or reducing estate taxes.
Protecting assets from an heir’s inabilities, disabilities, creditors and predators.
Avoiding the cost, delays and [...]

Clauses Aimed at Keeping the Heirs Quiet

New York Times:  “To deter lawsuits, many estate plans include a no-contest clause, which provides that anyone who formally challenges the plan gets nothing. Brooke Astor, the New York philanthropist, had one in her will. Michael Jackson reportedly used one in his living trust, a private document that disposed of most of his [...]

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